The Choshu Chronicles
by omasuoniwabanshi
Summary: Complete! This story continues where the OVA movies 'Samurai X Trust and Betrayal' left off, so there are LOTS of spoilers. See chapter one for a better summary.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai X, or any OVA movies or characters.

Note to readers: If you're expecting the goofy Kenshin from the Rurouni Kenshin series, then you're in the wrong place. This story is a continuation of the Samurai X Trust and Betrayal movies, and focuses on the years between those movies and the TV series. Kenshin is no longer the Battousai, but is still in the service of Katsura Kogoro of the Choshu Clan, working as a bodyguard and a common soldier. If you don't know why Kenshin quit being an assassin, watch the Samurai X movies. Like this story, they are about a dark period in Kenshin's life.

Warning: SPOILERS GALORE – Don't read this if you haven't seen the Samurai X Trust and Betrayal movies.

CHAPTER ONE

May 4, 1865. On a dirt road, Kenshin Himura walked slowly past the practice field on the outskirts of Yamaguchi Castletown.

For months the men of Choshu province had been drilling in preparation for war. Six months earlier the Tokugawa sent a punitive expedition against Choshu led by Saigo of Satsuma. It wasn't a coincidence that the Shogun had allowed a man from Choshu's hated rival province to lead the military forces sent to punish them for their armed attempt to get back into the Emperor's palace and his good graces earlier that year. Satsuma men had fought them off at the gates of the palace, ensuring that Satsuma would control the palace, and the Emperor inside it. Choshu was left out in the cold.

Unaccountably, on his arrival, Saigo had offered terms of propitiation to Choshu. Short on arms and troops, Choshu had accepted, and war was averted, but everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the Shogun again sent forces to destroy the province controlled by a government loyal to the Emperor, not to him.

The men out on the practice field knew it too. Kenshin paused to watch them. Merchants' sons, samurai, even sons of peasants all marched across the field, carrying their muskets. Unified by self-preservation, representatives from all classes of Choshu society strode by in unison.

At the edge of the field nearest Kenshin were bales of hay with targets pinned to them. A group of soldiers stood in a row, firing at them.

"Argh! What do you think you're doing?"

A tall man, dressed in black hakama trousers, and an angry expression, marched over to one of the soldiers and ripped the musket from out of his hands.

"I…I'm sorry sir." babbled the soldier.

The man waved the musket at him. "You're supposed to fire it, not just point it, you potato-headed farmer!"

The soldier threw himself to the ground and hunched over, bowing abjectly. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I tried to fire it, but the trigger is stuck."

"What?" The man in black gripped the gun, expertly brought it to his shoulder, sighted along the barrel and attempted to fire.

Nothing happened.

The man lowered the musket and held it out to glare at it. "What am I supposed to do with a piece of junk like this?!" He threw it at his feet.

The gun bounced and struck the bowing soldier in the side before landing in the dirt.

Kenshin's eyes narrowed as the man in black strode over to the soldier on the ground. He drew back his leg and kicked, missing the soldier, but connecting with the defective musket, sending it flying three feet away. Then he turned and glared down at the soldier.

"Get up! Lying on the ground won't help you when the Bakufu's forces come." He yelled, using the common term for the Tokugawa Shogunate's army. Spitting into the dirt near the soldier, he wheeled and stalked away.

The soldier pushed himself to his feet, staring after him.

Kenshin watched another moment, unconsciously gripping his arm to his hip, to feel the reassuring weight of his sword, secured at his side by his obi, the long sash wrapped around his waist under his hakama, the long pleated trousers worn by swordsmen. Swords didn't misfire or get stuck.

"Murata's good, but ill-tempered."

Kenshin glanced up at Shunme, who'd appeared next to him on the road. Of average height and a stocky build, Shunme was dressed in black and white striped Hakama and a grey Haori jacket, of a rich material. His slightly roundish face sported his habitual grin.

Kenshin looked at him questioningly.

Shunme nodded at the practice field where the man in black was now shouting at another group of new soldiers. "That's Murata. He's the expert on Western military matters, but he's not exactly someone you'd want to invite for a night out of drinking."

Shunme grinned wider. "Can you imagine it?" He lowered his voice in an imitation of Murata's practice field shout. "Everyone! Pour the sake! ONE! Now raise your cups. TWO! Prepare to drink! THREE! Drink! FOUR! You there! Keep in step! Now repeat this 600 times!" Shunme laughed, the 'ho ho ho' emerging from deep within his belly and pealing out.

Kenshin watched him, unmoved. "What are you doing here, Shunme?"

Shunme stopped laughing, noticing that Kenshin hadn't joined in. A disappointed expression crossed his face. "One of these days, Himura, one of my jokes will hit the mark and I'll see you laughing."

Keeping his eyes on Shunme's face, Kenshin waited. It was the most effective way of getting Shunme to stop clowning around and get to the point.

Shunme sighed. "Looking for you, of course." he answered. "I thought I'd find you out here. How did practice go?"

"How did you know…" Kenshin began slowly.

"That you practice swordplay every morning before dawn out in the fields?" Shunme broke in. He laughed again. "What else would you be doing before dawn? You don't practice in the inn's courtyard with the others, yet Katsura says you're one of the best swordsmen he's ever seen. You don't gamble, you rarely drink, and I've never seen you with a woman so…"

"What do you want?" Since Shunme had interrupted him earlier, Kenshin didn't hesitate to do the same to him. Shunme's comment cut deeper than Kenshin wanted, reminding him of Tomoe. She'd been everything, and now she was gone. He didn't want Shunme's casual banter reminding him of it.

Shunme cocked his head quizzically. "Katsura is going to the Choshu Administration Office earlier than usual this morning. It looks like you and I are on guard detail again, since that lazy Nakamura has the day off."

"He's a good swordsmen." Kenshin rebuked Shunme, and began walking down the road toward Yamaguchi Castletown.

"I don't know why you defend him." His fellow bodyguard sighed as he kept in step alongside Kenshin. "He's nothing but rude to you, and just because you weren't born a samurai." Shunme walked on, chuckling. "Nakamura's so stuck up I bet he thinks he pees liquid gold and poops out silver ore!"

With the ease of long practice, Kenshin blocked out Shunme's words and continued walking. He'd returned to Katsura's service after Tomoe died. He'd been the Battousai, Katsura's pet assassin, until the incident at the Ikedaya Inn when the Shinsengumi, a police squad loyal to the Tokugawa Shogun, had decimated the ranks of the Choshu loyalists in Kyoto.

Katsura had sent him, along with Tomoe, out of the city to pose as a married peasant couple. All of the Choshu loyalists went into hiding then. Months had passed. Winter had come, and with it, love. Like winter, that had ended, and now Kenshin served Katsura again, this time in Choshu province where the loyalists under Takasugi, Katsura's friend and the loyalist who'd brought Kenshin into the movement, had seized control of the provincial government.

Kenshin and Shunme entered the outskirts of Yamaguchi and made their way to the house where Katsura was staying. It was nearly 7:00 in the morning and shops were beginning to open. The smell of rice and miso soup permeated the streets. They arrived at Katsura's house and waited.

In a while, Katsura came out with Nakamura, who'd been on guard duty that night. Katsura's eyes lighted in recognition as he saw Kenshin and Shunme waiting for him. In his early thirties, Katsura had the assurance of a much older man. He kept his hair in a topknot folded over the top of his head. His face was smooth skinned, with small dark eyes, a nose too long to give his features symmetry, and a determined mouth.

He gave a few last minute instructions to Nakamura, a tall, angular featured samurai who pointedly ignored everyone but Katsura. That done, Katsura nodded briefly to Shunme and Kenshin, then set off down the street, talking to another Choshu official as he walked. Kenshin and Shunme, mercifully silent now that he was on the job, followed.

As was customary, Shunme followed Katsura into the Choshu Administration building while Kenshin patrolled outside. Shunme had been born into a samurai family. He was accepted where Kenshin, despite the current atmosphere of everyone needing to work together to defeat the Tokugawa Shogunate, was not.

At dusk, Katsura left the building alone, Kenshin and Shunme following respectfully. They parted from him at the door, leaving him in Nakamura's care, and made their way back to the inn where they, and several other soldiers and bodyguards, were staying.

"Kenshin!" Shunme burst out as soon as they were away from the house. "You'll never guess what I heard today!"

"What?" Kenshin asked, resigning himself. Shunme loved to talk. Kenshin didn't. He often wondered why he so often ended up on duty with him.

"We're going to Shimonoseki in a few days' time."

"So?" Katsura had friends in the wealthy merchant city nestled on the coast of the Shimonoseki Straits, the channel of water that separated Choshu from the Kokura clan's territory on Kyushu Island. Kenshin had accompanied Katsura there many times before.

Eyes dancing with excitement, Shunme answered. "I heard that Katsura is meeting with Sakamoto Ryoma." He paused, waiting for Kenshin to reply.

"Oh."

Shunme sighed dramatically. "Don't you know who that is? The Shinsengumi would give their sword arms to capture him, but they can't."

"So he's a loyalist?" asked Kenshin desultorily.

"Yes, but not just any loyalist. He's a real maverick. He started a naval academy and he's determined to build Japan into a military power the other nations will respect. Even Katsu Kaishu, the shogun's top naval official gave his blessing to Ryoma's academy and…."

"The shogun?" Kenshin broke in, giving Shunme a weird look. "Ryoma's with the Bakufu?"

"No! Not really. Katsu is, but he's not a bad sort. They say Katsu's the only good official in the Bakufu."

Kenshin stared at the ground. "I hate all of them. Everyone who works for the Bakufu."

Shunme paused a moment. "Yeah. I know, but someday this war's going to be over and we'll have to live with them."

Irritated, Kenshin wheeled down a side street, leaving Shunme staring after him, open-mouthed. "Kenshin! The inn is THAT way!" he called out.

Ignoring him, Kenshin walked the long way to the inn, lost in his thoughts. Live with the Bakufu officials? The dirty Bakufu who used anything and anyone to get their way, even an innocent girl? It was a month to the day that the Shogun's dogs, the Shinsengumi, had raided the Ikedaya Inn and killed many of the men Kenshin had called comrades. June 4, in the midst of the Gion festival, loyalist blood had washed the floor of the Ikedaya Inn.

The Shinsengumi had tortured a man to find the location of the inn. Kenshin wouldn't forgive them for that. Or for Tomoe. Just for a moment, as he strode through the darkened streets of Yamaguchi, he thought he smelled her favorite scent, white plums.

He stopped and looked up at the sky between the rooftops. It had been much clearer, and more beautiful back at the house he'd shared with Tomoe, but it was the same night sky, with the same stars shining down on him. He could remember her looking out their doorway, gazing at those same stars, with that far-away, unreadable expression on her face. Tomoe. He remembered her so clearly, the pretend wife whom he'd grown to love. The stars were still there, but she was gone.

He lifted his chin, and felt the evening breeze on his face, then drew a deep breath and walked on.

END CHAPTER ONE

A/N Please review and let me know if this is worth continuing. The story is a lot darker (despite Shunme's clowning around) than what I usually write, but then again, the Samurai X movies are terribly angst ridden too.

Oh, and in case the political history is a bit confusing, you should know that prior to the Meiji Restoration there were two sources of power in Japan - the Emperor who everybody revered but who had almost zero real political power, and the Tokugawa Shogun who ruled with an iron hand "in the name of the emperor".

My story begins after Takasugi (the guy who trained Kenshin as a loyalist after Kenshin left Hiko's house. He was Katsura's good friend and assigned Kenshin to him. Takasugi was the one who coughed a lot and fell off his horse at the end of 'Samurai X – Betrayal') has kicked all the pro-Tokugawa Shogun/Bakufu conservatives out of the government in Choshu province. He and Katsura pretty much run Choshu and hate the Satsuma clan almost as much as they hate the Shogun because the Satsuma clan had earlier kicked Choshu out of the Emperor's court.

Choshu sees itself as the hero, trying to restore the Emperor, kick out those nasty barbarians who want to trade with Japan, and get rid of the shogun. Satsuma won't let them anywhere near the Emperor, who they now control – well, as much as anyone can control a cantankerous xenophobe like Komei– and actually fought them off when they tried to get back in the Emperor's palace by force at the battle of the Forbidden Gate.

That whole Ikedaya Inn massacre where the Shinsengumi attacked Choshu loyalists in Kyoto because Choshu loyalist leader Miyabe planned to kidnap the emperor and take him to Choshu after setting Kyoto on fire, actually happened pretty much as it did in the Samurai X movies. (That was the part where Katsura sends Kenshin and Tomoe to the country to pose as a married peasant couple) I could go on and on, but then I'd never get around to writing chapter two!


	2. Chapter two

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters.

Note to reviewers: Sailor-Earth13, thanks for being my first reviewer! I'm continuing on as you requested. Lilmatchgirl13, thanks for the review and I'll try to keep matching the tone of the OVA. What I'm finding most difficult is trying to write about what's going on in the mind of a 17 year old ex-battousai who was undemonstrative and uncommunicative in the OVA. He just didn't say very much, and I'm trying to remain true to that while still showing how the circumstances around him are affecting him. Sigh. The OVA did it so well, that it's hard to compete with perfection.

CHAPTER TWO

The mansion was a familiar one to Kenshin. Katsura stayed often at the houses of his wealthy merchant friends in Shimonoseki. This time Kenshin, Shunme, Nakamura, and Takahata had gone with him. So had Murata, the expert in Western military techniques. Remembering his behavior on the practice field, Kenshin took care to stay out of his way.

The porch running along the outer front of the mansion was broad, and well polished. Kenshin was familiar with every board, as he'd patrolled it and the vast gardens in back often enough these past months when Katsura came to visit. Takahata was in those gardens now, defending the rear while Kenshin guarded the front.

The sun felt warm on Kenshin's face. There was a maple tree in front of the porch, tall and stately, with light green leaves, still now in the absence of a breeze. He spared a second to gaze up into it, then quickly focused his vision past it to the street leading to the mansion's front gate as he caught the sound of footsteps.

This particular street was a quiet one, and the man made no attempt to walk in secrecy. In fact, he was whistling tunelessly, stopping now and again to cough, and once to blow his nose.

He was still blowing his nose into a handkerchief when he pushed open the gate and walked up to the porch where Kenshin stood.

Pulling the handkerchief away from his face he sniffed one last time and asked, "Is this where Katsura's staying?" The man was only of average size but he had an air of repressed energy that made him seem larger. His unkempt hair was brushed back from his forehead, no topknot in sight. He had high cheekbones, sharp black eyes, a mouth whose corners turned down in repose, and a nose now reddened from congestion.

Kenshin nodded, and backed up a pace to tap on the mansion's door. It opened and a young maidservant came outside.

"Sakamoto-san?" She asked.

"That's me!" grinned the man, shoving his handkerchief into his navy blue kimono style shirt. He jumped up onto the porch and brushed by the girl who bowed and stepped back murmuring greetings, to let him pass. Closing the door behind her, she followed him inside.

The meeting lasted over an hour. At times, Kenshin could hear voices raised in anger inside. Mostly it was Murata, demanding "breech loading rifles" and complaining about the weapons he had now. Katsura's voice came at times, low and earnest. Another voice, Kenshin assumed it was Sakamoto Ryoma's, came through the thin rice paper panes, alternately cajoling, and then barking in unexpected laughter.

Shrugging to himself, Kenshin continued to patrol. Whatever was going on inside was Katsura's affair, not his. He was certain Shunme would fill him in later, whether he wanted to hear about it or not.

The front door opened again. Kenshin was on the ground this time, off the porch, and he turned to look at the noise the door made sliding along the wooden runners set in the porch.

Ryoma stepped outside, and stretched.

The same maidservant who'd opened the door before bowed and murmured farewells as she closed the door behind him.

Kenshin watched Ryoma curiously as he walked to the edge of the porch, and spurning the steps, jumped down onto the ground. Instead of leaving, he leaned back and sat down on the porch, which was set about two feet off the ground. Setting his hands on his hips, he yawned unselfconsciously and looked at Kenshin.

"Guard duty, eh?"

Kenshin nodded. Who was this man? Usually upper class samurai, which Ryoma definitely was, despite his uncombed hair and crumpled clothing, ignored lowly guards unless they too were samurai.

"So what's it like working for Katsura?"

Kenshin blinked. "It's a job." He answered at last, unsure of how much to say to this completely unconventional man.

Ryoma's eyes narrowed interestedly. "So why this job? Why guard Katsura? Why not go to Edo and guard the shogun?"

Kenshin felt his face tighten. "I'd rather die than help the Bakufu."

A smile spread across Ryoma's face, turning the corners of his mouth upward. "Thought so. So you guard Katsura because you believe in what he's doing, in what Choshu is doing?"

Kenshin nodded again. Ryoma was silent, forcing him to continue. "I want the Bakufu to pay."

Ryoma began coughing again, and pulled his handkerchief out of his shirt, burying his face in it. When he was done, he raised his head, those keen eyes of his seeking out Kenshin's. "Don't worry, kid. The Bakufu will pay. Their day is over, those dirty, rotten corrupt dogs! They're weak, rotting from the inside out. When they're gone we'll clean up Japan."

"Clean up Japan?" Kenshin repeated softly, wondering what Ryoma meant by that.

"Make it better, stronger, a place where the peasants don't spend their days suffering under the heel of the Bakufu. If I have my way, Japan will be free and…" Another coughing fit wracked Ryoma's body, interrupting his train of thought. "Hey kid, do you know where there's a good apothecary's shop in this town?"

Kenshin shook his head. Ryoma grimaced regretfully and pushed off the porch, hastily shoving his handkerchief back into his shirt. "Ah well. I'd better be getting back to my ship. I've got to get back to Nagasaki…he paused held a hand up, then let loose with a mighty sneeze. "Drat this cold. We'll talk again sometime." Grinning again, he clapped Kenshin on the shoulder and made his way out the gate.

A little while later Nakamura and Shunme came outside.

"You there. Katsura's staying the night. He wants you to come inside." Nakamura called out from the porch.

"He's got a name, Nakamura!" Shunme chided. "It's Kenshin. You know, Ken plus shin? Kenshin. It's easy. Now you try it."

Nakamura's sharp features wrinkled in distaste at Shunme and he wheeled and strode heavily back inside.

Shunme sighed. "Sorry Kenshin. Nakamura's miffed because he wasn't asked to join Katsura, Murata, and Ryoma for the meeting."

"I don't care." The redheaded swordsman told Shunme as he made his way up the steps. Guarding Katsura was his job. He didn't have to get along with his fellow guards to do it. He wasn't like Shunme, who tried to make friends with everyone.

"Let's take the back door" Shunme suggested and led the way down the porch. "So did you see Ryoma? I wasn't in the meeting room either, so I only saw him when he first came in."

"Yes."

"Well?" Shunme's eyes, bright as a bird's, regarded Kenshin expectantly.

"Well what?"

Shunme practically danced in exasperation. "Well, what did you think of him?"

"He's…different."

Shunme hooted. "At last! Kenshin has an opinion! Will wonders never cease!" He got serious and spoke in a low voice as they turned the corner. "I heard all about Ryoma from Ike Kurata, my friend from Tosa. Ryoma's from Tosa province too, you know. Kurata came to Choshu to help Takasugi rebel against the conservatives to take control so we could fight the Bakufu."

"Hmm." Muttered Kenshin noncommittally. He'd missed Takasugi and Katsura's rebellion and takeover because he'd been in hiding with Tomoe.

"Ryoma is the man to watch." Shunme confided. "I think he and Katsura are the greatest men in Japan. They will lead us into a new age." Shunme's voice grew low with emotion. He wasn't often serious.

Sensing Kenshin's regard, Shunme laughed and shrugged. "What is it about you, Kenshin? You say practically nothing, yet you get people to talk. Katsura should make you his chief interrogator. Instead of using whips, he could just stick you in the room and the spy would be singing like a bird in no time."

Kenshin shook his head, remembering what he'd heard that the Shinsengumi had done to Kotaka Shuntaro, the loyalist they'd caught who'd revealed the meeting place, Ikedaya Inn, to the Tokugawa police force. The beating, even the torture of suspects by the Tokugawa forces wasn't uncommon, but this time they'd outdone themselves, hanging Kotaka upside down and dripping candle wax into his wounds. "I don't do interrogations." He told Shunme, and opened the door and went inside to find Katsura.

A few steps down the corridor Kenshin saw Murata, scowling at Katsura, who stood in the doorway of an inner room.

"That Ryoma, do you really think we can trust him?" Murata ended his question with a snort. He stood belligerently, arms crossed, as if spoiling for an argument.

Katsura paused before speaking. "Yes." He answered gravely. "I know of no one in Japan more committed to bringing down the Bakufu besides me. He is sincere."

Murata merely snorted in response.

"I trust him." Katsura continued. "His methods are unusual, but he's a good man. His honor is unquestioned."

Murata's face twisted into a sneer. "I hope you're right, or we're over before the battle's even begun." He turned his back and started down the corridor. Kenshin moved further into the mansion, and stepped back out of his way while Shunme moved back onto the porch to let Murata pass.

As the larger weapons expert brushed by, his gaze raked over both men, and he snorted again as he caught sight of the katana sheathed at their sides.

Then Katsura beckoned, and Kenshin put Murata and his contempt for swords out of his thoughts as he and Shunme joined their leader.

Days passed. Kenshin performed his duties mechanically and competently. Katsura was busy, spending long hours at the Choshu administration building, busy preparing for the Bakufu's invasion.

At night Kenshin returned to the inn where he, Shunme, Nakamura, and Takahata, Katsura's favorite squad of bodyguards, plus other Choshu soldiers were staying. A young couple ran the inn, harried by so many men packed into the dormitory style rooms.

It was late in the afternoon in the middle of May when Kenshin pushed open the gate leading to the inn's courtyard. Most of the guests were still on duty or out training. This particular day Katsura had dismissed Kenshin early in order to, in his own words "think and sleep."

Katsura took only Takahata with him as he made his way home from the government building. Kenshin wasn't worried. Takahata was a competent swordsman. He was friends with Nakamura and had absorbed Nakamura's dislike of Kenshin's non-samurai status, so Kenshin didn't know him very well.

He was more worried about Katsura. The man's set face and tense manner reflected the atmosphere in Choshu. Everyone was scared. The Tokugawa shogun commanded over thirty clans, and their combined armies completely outnumbered Choshu's forces, even with the peasants swelling their army. When the invasion came, it would be disastrous. But why was Katsura so unusually tense today?

Kenshin trudged across the courtyard, the dust kicked up by the morning sword practicing session swirling around his footsteps. When he got to the porch leading to the inn's main room, he paused. There on the steps was Sota, the innkeeper's two-year-old son, holding a tattered fan.

Seeing Kenshin, the baby scooted his rear to the end of the step and plonked down to the one below, landing on his bottom. He repeated the process three times until he stood on his fat little legs in the dust, then padded forward and held out his fan to Kenshin.

Kenshin glanced around behind him and to the sides, but there was no one else in the courtyard. Evidently, Sota was giving the fan to him.

He knelt in front of the child and took the fan from him, noticing the holes in the fabric, and the tooth marks on the handle. At a loss as to what to do next, Kenshin stared at the child, who stared back unblinkingly.

After a while, the staring contest palled for the two year old. He reached out and took back the fan, sticking it in his mouth, fabric edge first. Then he turned around and began to crawl back up the steps on his hands and knees.

Sensing movement, Kenshin looked up and saw Shunme leaning against the doorframe with an amused expression, watching.

Immediately, Kenshin rose to his feet, feeling an embarrassed rush of color in his cheeks.

"You sure don't know how to deal with children, do you?" observed Shunme. Taking a few steps forward, he crossed the porch, reached down, and grabbed Sota under his arms, lifting him up and depositing him matter-of-factly on his hip.

Sota immediately took the fan out of his mouth and held it out to Shunme, whose round face creased in a big smile. "Let's show Kenshin how to play, shall we?" he asked the baby.

Shunme bit the edge of the fan and pulled it gently out of Sota's grasp, making growling noises and shaking the fan side to side like a dog worrying a toy or a bone.

Sota whooped and giggled in delight.

"Soh-tah." Tama, Sota's five-year-old sister, wearing an orange and blue kimono and a disapproving expression on her face, appeared around the edge of the building and stamped her foot on the porch.

She huffed and marched up to Shunme, holding her arms out toward her brother, and scolded, "You're not supposed to bother the samurai!"

Shunme removed the fan from his mouth and handed it back to Sota. "Ah, the beauteous princess Tama graces us with her presence. Your prince, milady." He raised Sota high in the air then swooped him down to the ground with a flourish, setting him gently on the floor by Tama, then bowed low.

Tama took her brother's hand and stared at the top of Shunme's head. "You're silly." She informed him.

Shunme raised his head, and gave her a hurt look. Grabbing his chest, he fell backwards on the porch, landing with a thud. "Ah! Cut to the heart by a lady's unkind words!"

The little girl giggled and began pulling her brother through the doorway.

As soon as their footsteps faded, Shunme sat up and leaned against the post holding up the eaves over the porch. "That," he told Kenshin smugly "is how to play with children."

Kenshin stared. "How do you…?"

"Know how to deal with small children?" Shunme said, continuing Kenshin's question for him. "Practice! I've got one of my own at home, after all."

"You're married?"

"You're surprised?" Shunme's trademark belly laugh burst from his mouth. "I've been married for years. My daughter is a little younger than Tama."

"I didn't know."

"You didn't ask. You never seem to ask questions about anything." Shunme's eyes took on a speculative, yet not unkind expression. "You just watch and listen."

Kenshin shrugged slightly. "Katsura tells me what I need to know."

"And you just take it all in and ponder it. I often wonder what it is you're thinking about so silently. What great thoughts are hatching in that head of yours, Kenshin? What plans and schemes do you have?"

A memory of Tomoe came flooding back through Kenshin's mind. It happened that way sometimes, a trick of the mind ambushing him from the past. This one was auditory, a whisper of her quiet voice saying, "You would have been happy, as a farmer."

Kenshin shook the thought away and walked to the steps leading to the porch. "I'm not that complicated." He told Shunme.

Shunme let him get to the top of the steps, then reached out and grabbed a handful of the material of Kenshin's hakama trousers, stopping him.

"Well things are getting complicated around here." He waited until Kenshin bent his head to look at him, then released the material and patted the top step. "Sit down and I'll tell you about it."

Kenshin hesitated, then turned around, pushing on his sword hilt to angle the sheathed blade out behind him horizontally as he sat on the porch and set his feet on the step below.

Shunme leaned against the post supporting the eaves and began.

"You know who the Lord of Uwijima is, right?"

Hesitantly, Kenshin nodded. "He's the lord in charge of Yamaguchi castle."

"Right, well, the other day he got a letter from the shogun. Evidently the shogun sent the letter to all the daimyos and lords, except the daimyo of Choshu. The letter says that the second expedition against Choshu is a go. The reason the letter gave is that the Kokura clan told the shogun that Choshu men approached a Dutch ship illegally to smuggle men out of Japan and to trade with the Dutch."

"Did that happen?"

"No." Shunme leaned away from the post to be sure Kenshin was listening. "Do you think Katsura or Takasugi would be stupid enough to send men to talk to the Dutch in the middle of Shimonoseki Strait with Kokura clan right across from us watching? Kokura made it up."

"Oh."

" 'Oh' Indeed." Shunme leaned back against the post and stared out at the practice field. "Kokura clan is loyal to the shogun, and they know he's been waiting for an excuse to attack us."

Kenshin thought for a moment, then softly asked, "why?"

"Why did Kokura give the shogun the excuse he wanted, or why are they loyal to the shogun?"

"Neither. Why did the lord of Yamaguchi castle show the letter to Katsura?"

Laughing under his breath, Shunme sat up straight. "You never cease to amaze me, Kenshin." He grew serious. "But how did you know Katsura saw the letter? Did they let you inside the administration building at long last?"

Kenshin shook his head. "No. Katsura let me go home early. Something was bothering him. The letter explains it. That's all." He stared out at the front gate, remembering the worry in Katsura's eyes as he'd told Kenshin to go home.

"Hmm." Slouching back against the post, Shunme continued. "Lord Uwajima didn't show the letter to Katsura. He showed it to the Lord of Choshu. He shouldn't even have done that, really. Technically, all lords and daimyo are supposed to be loyal to the shogun, and the letter wasn't meant for the lord of Choshu, but Uwajima's wife was the lord of Choshu's sister and family ties run deep."

"How do you know all this?" Kenshin looked over at Shunme.

"Me?" Shunme smiled and got to his feet. "People like to tell me things. Everybody loves me, because I'm lovable." He smacked the seat of his hakama trousers to get the dust off. "And like you, Kenshin. I watch and I listen." He smiled again and disappeared into the inn.

END CHAPTER TWO

A/N Those history fans among you will probably notice that I've introduced a real historical character, Sakamoto Ryoma. (And what a character he was!) Lord Uwajima and Murata were real people too, though I doubt Murata was as bratty in real life as I've depicted him here.


	3. Chapter three

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters.

Note to reviewers: Welcome xZig-zagx! I appreciate all reviews, and hope you continue reading.

CHAPTER THREE

The murmur of voices rose and fell above the rhythmic slap of the oars in the water. Kenshin sat near the middle of the long rowboat making its way towards a Dutch vessel moored in the Shimonoseki Straits.

In the front of the rowboat, Katsura sat with Ito, his interpreter, giving him some last minute instructions. Nakamura claimed the next nearest bench for himself, leaving Kenshin to sit with Sakamoto Ryoma instead. The rest of the benches were taken up with oarsmen.

On the dock, Ryoma had allowed the others to precede him, while he stared at Kenshin.

"AHA!" he'd burst out, pointing. "I remember you, you're the bodyguard from that mansion. You didn't know where the apothecary shop was."

Kenshin nodded and stepped into the rowboat, crouching down as he'd seen the sailors do, to keep from tipping over. Luckily, Hiko's training had instilled in him a healthy sense of balance.

Ryoma followed, grabbing the side of the rowboat and dropping expertly onto the bench by Kenshin. "You'd make a good sailor." He told Kenshin. "You should come join my Kameyama Company after the Bakufu have been defeated."

At Kenshin's bemused look, Ryoma laughed. "What? You don't think we'll win? The shogunate is going down. Japan will be strong again, and my shipping company is going to be a part of it."

"Shipping company?" Kenshin muttered.

Ryoma looked a little embarrassed. "Well, we haven't got many ships yet, but we will. I tell you, kid. Steamships will change shipping forever." His eyes gleamed. "I can't wait to get my hands on one. Did you know an American steamship, the Wyoming, sank two Choshu battleships and nearly sank a third one in minutes? It happened two years ago right here in the Shimonoseki Straits. Minutes! Think of it!"

Kenshin stared.

Ryoma laughed. "Do you think me callous? The American ship was only getting back at Choshu for firing on American and other foreign ships in the Straits earlier. Think of it as a good lesson. If it hadn't been for that, Choshu wouldn't be buying up newer, better warships." He sighed nostalgically. "I would have loved to see the Wyoming in action."

Nakamura's voice, low and angry, burst in. "Don't take Choshu lightly! Satsuma got worse from the foreigners the next July." His voice took on a dark, satisfied tone. "I hear their capital city of Kagoshima was nearly destroyed by British warships, and all because they cut down an English foreigner who did not show the proper respect toward lord Shimazu Hisamitsu's procession."

Ryoma pursed his lips and nodded. "True, Satsuma also suffered from foreign warships, but the point is, those warships were steam powered. Steamships are faster and bigger than any ship Japan has. If we're going to be taken seriously by the rest of the world, we need them too."

"Just so we get them before Satsuma does." growled Nakamura.

Ryoma opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it as the rowboat came alongside the Dutch vessel.

Rope ladders were slung over the side. In a short time, everyone was standing on the deck of the largest ship Kenshin had ever been on. White skinned men in slim trousers and shirts went about their duties, sparing curious glances now and again at their visitors.

Only Katsura, Ryoma, and Ito were allowed in the cabin to see the Dutch Consul General. When Nakamura began to protest, Katsura silenced him with a quiet word. Frustrated, the samurai glared at the closed door and then stationed himself on the left side of it, leaving Kenshin to stand on the right.

Kenshin didn't expect Nakamura to speak to him. Nakamura never did. An hour later, Katsura, Ryoma, and Ito came outside. They made their way over to the railing and descended back into the rowboat.

This time, Ryoma and Katsura sat together, Ryoma talking excitedly, and Katsura nodding, and looking pleased.

Ito, the interpreter, sat on a bench with Kenshin, Nakamura once again claiming a bench for himself, close to Katsura.

Nakamura leaned over to Ito. "Well? What happened?" he asked.

Ito, a small man with a quiet manner, smiled. "The Dutch Consul General denied it. He said the report from Kokura is a lie, and he'll be happy to tell that to the shogun or anyone else who asks."

Nakamura smiled grimly and sat back. "Good."

The trip back to the dock seemed to take less time. Unlike Ryoma, Ito didn't speak to Kenshin, so he was able to watch the docks growing larger and larger as they approached, and to enjoy the heat of the sun reflected up from the water.

At the docks Katsura and Ryoma spoke a while before parting ways. Ito, his job finished, left immediately.

Kenshin kept his eyes on the loiterers and workers on the dock, but none seemed to be dangerous or even interested at all in Katsura. However, there was someone interested in Nakamura. A young girl, a maidservant by the look of her, who'd been waiting at the dock, rushed up to him.

She bowed hurriedly, gave him a bit of paper, bowed again, and rushed off. As she hurried away, Kenshin saw that she kept her hair tied back low on her neck, with a length of ribbon twisted around and around it. Like Tomoe had worn her hair. He wrenched his gaze off her quickly, and transferred it to Nakamura.

The man was reading the paper the girl gave him. Sensing Kenshin's regard, he looked up, glared, crumpled the paper and thrust it into his sleeve.

"Don't be so interested in the dealings of your betters." Nakamura spat at him, as he brushed past roughly to stand near Ryoma and Katsura, who were saying their goodbyes.

Back at the inn, Shunme demanded a full account of the trip, first from Nakamura, then later from Kenshin.

Kenshin obliged, mainly so that Shunme would let him alone. "When we got back to the dock, Katsura and Ryoma spoke some more then Ryoma left." he finished.

"Did you hear what they said?"

Kenshin shook his head, then hesitated.

"What is it?" For being such a pleasant, jovial man, Shunme could be very insistent. "Did you remember something they said?"

"No. Nakamura walked up to them when they were saying goodbye. Maybe he heard something."

Shunme's eyes narrowed. "So Nakamura wasn't standing at Katsura's heels the whole time like he usually does? Now why was that, I wonder?"

Kenshin thought of the way Nakamura had crumpled the paper. It had been almost furtive, yet the maidservant had come to him in broad daylight where anyone might have seen her.

Decision made, Kenshin answered. "Nakamura got a message from a girl. He read it, then he went to Katsura."

"A girl?" Shunme laughed. "Ah, was she pretty? Who knew Nakamura would be a hit with the ladies?"

"It wasn't like that. She was just a maidservant delivering a message." Kenshin stopped himself from saying more. Why was he defending the girl? Because she wore her hair like Tomoe had? That was stupid. He turned away from Shunme abruptly and went to the corner to get a wooden box of cleaning supplies.

Kneeling by the window, he began cleaning his sword, unsheathing it to look over the blade and check for nicks.

Undaunted, Shunme plonked down next to him on the tatami mat flooring. "So what did she look like, this maidservant?"

Kenshin removed the menuki, the decorative fastenings on the hilt, and began to patiently tap out the mekugi pegs holding the hilt onto the metal tang of the blade. "She wasn't his girlfriend, Shunme."

"Oh ho, and you being such a man of the world would know this? How do you know it wasn't a love letter she was giving him?"

Kenshin concentrated on tapping the hammer until the mekugi peg came out, and pulled the hilt off the sword's tang. "It wasn't a love letter." The tsuba, the rectangular guard that prevented an enemy's sword from traveling down the blade and slicing off fingers holding onto the hilt, came off next, followed by the hibaki, or collar that separated the tsuba from the blade.

"But how do you KNOW it wasn't a love letter?" Shunme wheedled.

Holding the blade by the tang, Kenshin used rice paper to wipe it. "Because he frowned when he read it."

"Did he now?" Shunme's voice took on a speculative note.

Kenshin set the dry rice paper aside and reached for the powdering utensil, a stick with a round fabric ball containing cleaning powder. He began tapping it carefully along both sides of the katana, sending clouds of powder onto the surface of the blade. "Yes."

"Well, then if it wasn't a love letter, there's no harm in telling me what the girl looked like, is there?"

"Why do you want to know?" Kenshin paused his tapping and looked at Shunme, who shrugged and threw himself down on the floor so he was lying with his head propped up by his hand, elbow on the floor.

"I'm curious. There's not much else to do around here, and I was stuck on an errand for Katsura so I didn't get to go."

Kenshin finished powdering his sword and reached for more rice paper. Folding it, he drew it along the blade, wiping away the powder. "She was young. Ten or eleven maybe. She wore her hair low in a ponytail down her back."

Finished, Kenshin dropped the soiled rice paper and reached for another stack of rice paper, this time grabbing the ones moistened with clove oil.

"What was she wearing?" Shunme asked quietly, as if he didn't care, and was only making conversation.

"Blue, I think." Kenshin drew the oiled paper slowly up the blade, twice. "She wore a dark blue kimono with white on it. Small white circles or flowers maybe. That's all I remember."

Shunme rolled to his feet. "Thanks Kenshin." he said, and walked away.

Kenshin stared after him. Why was Shunme so interested in the girl who'd given a message to Nakamura? What could it possibly matter? If her hair hadn't reminded him of Tomoe for a second, Kenshin probably wouldn't have remembered her at all. Sighing, Kenshin re-assembled his sword, sheathed it, and headed for bed.

END CHAPTER THREE

Please read and review if you liked it, and let me know if you find any historical or other errors. I'm trying to be as accurate as possible.


	4. Chapter four

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters.

Note to Readers: Sorry this chapter is so short, but at least I updated two days in a row! Xzig-zagx and Sailorearth13, Glad you liked the part about the Katana, I was afraid it might seem a bit tedious! Lilmatchgirl007, thanks for commenting on the research. I live to research - thank goodness for the internet! Last of all, welcome to Yayemsi - I agree with you that becoming a stone cold killer must have killed off Kenshin's youthful idealism. Reality has an unpleasant way of smacking one in the face and changing one's attitude. Hiko was so right about what would happen to Kenshin if he joined the revolution.

CHAPTER FOUR

Dawn was a good time of day to be alone. Kenshin left the inn while it was still dark and trudged to a field beyond the practice field the Choshu soldiers would be using later for their drills. He began the Hiten Mitsurugi drills taught to him by his master, Hiko, when he was a child.

They were familiar. They settled his mind, and kept him sane. As the pre-dawn darkness gave way to the light, his movements continued, growing more complex, and faster. Sometimes it felt to Kenshin as if he could move past time itself.

When he was finished, he returned to the inn.

"I don't believe it! There has to be another way!" Nakamura shouted, and came through the front door of the inn just as Kenshin reached the steps. Enraged, he stomped down them, followed closely by Takahata, who had to skip to keep up.

As Nakamura reached the bottom of the steps he snarled, "Get out of my way!" at Kenshin, even though Kenshin had already stepped back to allow him to pass. Takahata, ignoring Kenshin, skipped past and caught up with Nakamura at the gate, following him through it.

"He just found out that Ryoma is buying rifles for Choshu using Satsuma's name as the buyer since the shogun has forbidden anyone to sell Choshu weapons." Shunme's voice came from the porch.

Kenshin turned toward the inn to look at him. "Satsuma? I thought they were our enemy."

Shunme walked down the stairs. "You mean because they threw Choshu representatives out of the emperor's palace, and beat us at the Forbidden Gates incident when we tried to get back in to see the emperor?" Shunme shrugged. "I guess Katsura will use anything or anyone, even Satsuma's name, to get what he wants. What do you think of that?"

Kenshin ignored the question. "Why is Nakamura so upset by that?"

Shunme's gaze sharpened. "You don't know?"

"No."

"Nakamura's older brother was killed during the fighting at the Forbidden Gates. He's never forgiven Satsuma for that."

Kenshin stared at the gate where Nakamura had disappeared. It seemed everyone was carrying around a hidden sorrow. Everyone but Shunme. Nothing saddened Shunme. He was always laughing and joking around.

Kenshin couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed.

"Who knows? Maybe Ryoma will bring you back a nice breech loading rifle!" Shunme offered.

"I prefer my sword." Kenshin told him. Tired of Shunme's banter, he moved around him and went to the back of the inn to find water.

May 21, 1865. Kenshin was back at the mansion in Shimonoseki, patrolling beside its well-polished porch. Ryoma and Katsura were inside. Nakamura was in the house, and Takahata was patrolling the back.

The maple tree in the yard was rustling, the breeze rippling its green leaves together. The noise it made wasn't enough to drown out footsteps coming down the road. A moment later, a man appeared at the front gate. Unlike Ryoma who'd just pushed it open, and marched right up to the steps, greeting Kenshin heartily as he went by, this visitor knocked on the gate, cracking it open a little, and waited.

The knock had been quiet, too quiet for the mansion's maidservant to hear. Kenshin walked forward and pulled the gate the rest of the way open.

"I'm Nakaoka Shintaro." Said the man standing in the street. "I've come with news for Katsura."

Kenshin looked past him. The street was empty. "I was told to expect two." He told the man.

Shintaro sighed. "That is part of my message."

"Follow me." Kenshin told him, and, shutting the gate behind Shintaro, he led the way up the steps and knocked on the door for him, then handed him off to the maidservant.

As the man walked past, he looked at Kenshin. "Thank you." he said.

Surprised, Kenshin nodded, and went back to patrolling.

Not too long afterward, Katsura appeared at the door, Nakamura, with a smug expression and angry eyes, at his side. Ryoma and the new man, Shintaro, came to the door as Katsura reached the porch.

Katsura was angry, angrier than Kenshin had ever seen him.

"Those weapons had better be delivered on time, or I will never trust Saigo of Satsuma ever again."

"It wasn't his fault, he got a message about urgent business in…" Shintaro began heatedly. Ryoma held up his hand, cutting him off, and addressed Katsura.

"I promise you, Katsura. Even though Saigo couldn't make it here to meet with you, he is sincere. The weapons will be here. You have my word."

Katsura clenched his jaw, wheeled around and rushed down the steps, Nakamura at his side, muttering. "I know Satsuma couldn't be trusted, I knew it!"

Kenshin whistled a signal to Takahata, bringing him running from the back of the mansion, and took off after Katsura and Nakamura, who were already at the front gate, leaving. As Kenshin passed through the gate himself, he saw Ryoma, shoulders slumped, gazing worriedly back at him. Then Kenshin was through the gate and Ryoma was lost to sight.

END CHAPTER FOUR


	5. Chapter five

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters.

Note to reviewers: Oro-chan, welcome, and just for you I added a small fight scene to this chapter. Lilmatchgirl007, I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. Sorry the last was so short! Sailor-earth13, good luck with your research! I've been frantically reading Romulus Hillsborough's "Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai" while writing this story to try to get my facts and timeline straight, not to mention trying to find some decent Meiji era history websites. Let me know if you run across any good ones!

CHAPTER FIVE

The rifles, bought by Sakamoto Ryoma for Choshu in Satsuma's name, arrived at the docks. Katsura took Kenshin and Nakamura with him to the practice field the next day to watch Murata teach the men how to use the new weapons.

The air was filled with gunpowder smoke, and the sounds of rifle fire became almost deafening at times. Kenshin schooled his body to remain still and not jump at every shot.

He stood a little behind Katsura, allowing Nakamura to stand alongside the leader of the Choshu loyalists, and other officials who'd come out of curiosity to view the first widespread use of breech loading rifles.

Kenshin forced his muscles to unclench. Of all the places he'd accompanied Katsura, the practice field was his least favorite. Murata, strutting proudly in his black hakama and white kimono style top, went from group to group, demonstrating how to 'break' the gun open on its hinged middle, and load the bullets. As always, he shouted at anyone he deemed too slow or too stupid.

The officials with Katsura gestured excitedly as one group of peasant soldiers managed to hit their targets nearly dead on.

Katsura stepped back quietly until he was standing by Kenshin.

"What do you think?" he asked him, gazing at the busy field.

"They are doing well." said Kenshin neutrally, as he watched the squad of peasant riflemen reloading.

"What do you think of our new weapons?" Katsura probed again.

Kenshin turned his eyes on his mentor. "I prefer the sword."

Katsura's small dark eyes searched, blinked, then took on an unreadable expression. "I thought you might say that."

"I'm sorry if I disappoint you."

Katsura had just opened his mouth to respond when Nakamura, who'd been craning his neck by the officials to eavesdrop, wheeled around and interrupted.

"If the boy can't handle the new weapons, Katsura, I can. Allow me to learn this, please." Though Nakamura's words were deferential, his tone was low, and demanding.

Katsura crossed his arms and nodded.

Nakamura gestured to Takahata, who was officially off-duty, but tagging along to watch the practice session. Takahata quickly agreed to take Nakamura's place as second bodyguard. Then Nakamura strode up to Murata, whose face creased in a wolfish smile of welcome, and handed him one of the new rifles.

Nakamura missed the target his first few tries, but by the end of an hour, he'd managed to improve. Murata seemed pleased. When Katsura and the officials left, Nakamura barely seemed to notice.

After several more hours at the Administration building, Katsura went home. Kenshin handed bodyguard duty off to Shunme, who was on evening duty. Takahata left quickly, so as not to have to walk home with Kenshin.

Shunme scowled after him. "That one should find a better hero to emulate than that stuck up samurai Nakamura." He nudged Kenshin with his shoulder. "Don't let them bother you." He said, and turned to follow Katsura into the house.

Kenshin left, walking slowly along the row of houses lining the roadway. Bother him? Why would it? Nakamura was a samurai, and like most samurai, he thought himself better than non-samurai warriors. It had been the same in Kyoto. If it hadn't been for Kenshin's obvious skill and his job as battousai, or head assassin, his youth and his non-samurai status would have let him in for a lot of hazing.

In Kyoto he'd been left alone by the others, out of respect or fear, but most of the Choshu patriots from Kyoto were dead now, massacred at Ikedaya Inn by the Shinsengumi, and no one in Choshu besides Katsura and Takasugi now knew that he'd once been battousai. To Nakamura, Kenshin was simply another bodyguard, and one of inferior social standing at that. Kenshin was used to his contempt.

He came to a crossroads. The streets were busy now at the close of day. Soldiers were making their way home from the practice fields. In the outer villages practice had ended long since, to give the peasants time to work at their necessary chores, but on this day the men from Yamaguchi castletown had practiced until the light faded.

Kenshin paused at a crossroads and stepped back to allow a group of laughing, tired men to pass by. As he did, he caught sight of Nakamura, walking beside a much shorter girl, headed down the street to his left. The girl turned her face to listen to something Nakamura was saying. As she did so, Kenshin recognized her. It was the girl from the docks.

The soldiers passed him, and without really considering it, Kenshin turned left, away from the inn, and followed Nakamura.

His experience as battousai came back to him. He'd tailed other men before. The instinctive keeping to shadows and walking just close enough behind a group of pedestrians to look a part of them should his quarry glance back, were second nature.

Nakamura didn't notice a thing. Eventually he and the girl, still clad in her dark kimono with the white flower pattern, ducked down a quiet street where a row of small, cheap but clean two room houses lined either side. The girl went to the entrance of one, and slide open the wooden partition serving as a door. She stepped back and bowed at the waist, allowing Nakamura to precede her.

Kenshin leaned back against the wall of the first house on the corner, where the roof protruded into the street, causing a deep shadow. What was he doing here? Why did he bother to follow Nakamura and the girl? To satiate Shunme's curiosity? Or his own?

A few moments later, the girl came out of the house carrying a bucket. She bent and turned her back to the street to close the wooden partition behind her. As she did, a strand of her hair pulled out of the ponytail down her back, and hung down by her cheek. An ache began in Kenshin's heart.

Then the girl turned around, and was once again an eleven-year-old child carrying a bucket, and bearing no resemblance at all to the woman Kenshin had loved.

The girl made her way down the street to the end away from where Kenshin stood, and turned the corner. Kenshin waited a moment, and then followed.

As she came to the end of the street, she glanced to her left, then scuttled quickly to the right, turning the corner.

Kenshin was halfway down the street, walking quickly, when he saw two men in tattered kimonos weaving drunkenly along the street that intersected the one Kenshin was on. They must have been what made the girl hurry to get around the corner.

As he came forward he heard what they were saying. The taller one in a rust kimono was making a crude comment about little girl's development. The smaller one snickered and likened the maidservant to a tasty morsel.

Kenshin reached them just as the taller one suggested that they 'take a bite' out of her.

The cross street was dark. As he reached it, Kenshin glanced both ways. To his left, the street zigzagged away. Faint noise indicated that if there were pedestrians that way, they were past the zag and out of earshot. To his right, past the lumbering forms of the drunks, the cross street dead-ended into another street a short ways away. The servant girl was out of sight already.

Kenshin quickened his pace and passed the two men. Pivoting on his heel, he came to a stop directly in front of them, and stood, legs slightly apart, arms folded.

"Go back the other way." He said quietly.

The drunks stopped, wavering at the sudden cessation of forward movement.

"Huh?" The taller one squinted. "Who's this?"

"Get out of the way!" shouted the short one, pawing at the air with his open hand in a shooing gesture, and nearly falling over at the effort.

They were truly too drunk to be much of a danger, but Kenshin was a trained killer. The girl wasn't.

"Go back the way you came." He repeated his request, narrowing his eyes.

"Who're you to tell me what to do?" The shorter drunk staggered forward.

When he tried to lean into Kenshin's face, Kenshin flicked the tsuba of his sword to loosen it from the sheath, and in one fluid motion, he grasped the hilt low by the tsuba with his right hand and brought it up sharply.

The fuchi, the metal base of the hilt, slammed into the bottom of the drunk's chin.

Kenshin resheathed the sword without ever having drawn it completely out of the sheath.

The drunk crumpled to the ground, out cold.

"Hey!" The taller drunk yelped. He looked down at his friend on the ground, then back at Kenshin. Behind the drunken haze, an enraged animal expression began to form in his eyes.

Kenshin braced himself.

The tall drunk put a hand inside his kimono, drawing a short dagger as he lurched forward.

For this one, Kenshin didn't even bother to draw his sword. As the drunk lunged he thrust the dagger out in his right hand, extending the arm like a sword in a parallel thrust. Kenshin evaded by leaning to the right and allowing the man's dagger arm to move past his chest.

As the man's arm came level with Kenshin's torso, he immediately grabbed the man's wrist in his left hand, and with his right he grabbed the man's upper arm directly above the elbow joint.

Twisting his left hand, he forced the man's arm to bend under, back towards his torso, and used the blade, still gripped by the drunk, to cut a slash across the man's ribs.

As the drunk howled, Kenshin dropped his right hand from the man's upper arm, and used his right elbow to bludgeon the man's nose. Then he released his grip and stepped back.

The man staggered back and landed on his rear in the street. With a gasp, he dropped his dagger and lifted both hands to his now broken nose.

"Take your friend, and go."

The tall drunk began to snarl.

Kenshin put his right hand on his sword hilt. The man stopped snarling, crawled to his prone comrade, and began trying to lift him up, too scared to even retrieve his dagger.

Kenshin took a few steps backward, watching to be sure the drunk didn't try again, and when he was satisfied that the man only wanted to get away, he turned completely around and strode to the dead end.

The cross street to both the right and left was clear. The fight, if you could call it that, took more time than he'd thought. He'd have to search both directions for the little maidservant.

He found the girl two streets later, kneeling by a well.

When her bucket was full, she lifted it awkwardly and began to carry it, hunching over to the side due to its weight.

As she came closer to where Kenshin stood in the shadows, he tried to decide what to do. Shunme would simply walk up to the girl and start a conversation. He wasn't Shunme, but at least he could ask her name.

She was nearly level with him. He stepped out into the roadway, blocking her path.

"Oh!" She jumped, and dropped the bucket.

Water splashed the street and spilled out in a pool.

"I'm so sorry! Forgive me! Did I get you wet?" she asked, her face pinched in worry. Her accent wasn't a Choshu one, or a Kyoto one either. Kenshin couldn't place it.

"No." answered Kenshin simply.

"Oh good!"

She hadn't been so lucky. The lower edge of her kimono was drenched. She brushed at it distractedly, and sighed, giving up on it.

Reaching for the bucket, she stopped in surprise when Kenshin grasped it first and set off toward the well.

"You need more water." He observed, throwing the words over his shoulder.

"Oh yes. Thank you! Thank you!" she gasped and ran to catch up.

Kenshin drew the water, and once again took the bucket out of her reach when she tried to grasp the handle.

"I'll carry it." He told her, standing. "Where is your house?"

She pointed back down the street. "That way, but it's kind of far. Are you sure you want to carry it all the way?"

Kenshin nodded and set off. She skipped to catch up and walked along him in silence.

What to do now? For once, Kenshin truly wished Shunme was with him. Shunme knew how to talk to children. As battousai, Kenshin hadn't spoken much to his victims. Once he'd found his targets, he'd simply killed them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

They reached the end of the street with the well. Now there were only three streets left to go.

"Do you live with your parents?" Kenshin asked, the question coming to him from out of the blue.

"Oh no. I have no parents." The girl confided cheerfully. "My father died the year I was born, and mother died two years ago. My stepfather doesn't count."

"Doesn't count?" asked Kenshin, glancing at the little girl.

Her face took on a serious expression. "He had his only children first, before he married my mother, and after she died he didn't like having me around so he tried to sell me to a brothel."

Kenshin nearly tripped. "What did you say?" He knew such things went on. Starving peasants sold their children in order to buy food for the rest of the family to survive. Still, it was a shock to hear it from her mouth.

"Oh, it didn't work!" She giggled. "He thought my lady was the brothel keeper when she came to the door. He sold me to her, but she was just leaving the brothel since master Nakamura had redeemed her. She used most of her moving money to buy me to be her maidservant."

"Your lady is…"

"Tamako. Master Nakamura's concubine." The little girl's voice became solemn. "Master Nakamura told me I must take very good care of her. She's ill, you see. That's why he bought her, to take her away from the bad place so she could rest and get well."

"Where was this?"

"The brothel? Oh, it's in Shimonoseki. My stepfather took me there by boat so that no one from our town would know he'd sold me."

"Then you're not from Choshu province?"

"Oh no. I'm from Shimabara."

Kenshin thought of his first boat trip, the noise, the bustle and confusion of the docks. "Were you scared?"

"Not really, I prayed you see and…" The girl stopped dead and covered her mouth, eyes round and shocked.

Bemused, Kenshin stopped too. "What is it?"

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone about praying. Not even stepfather. Please don't tell anyone I told you."

"Why?" Kenshin was genuinely curious. There were plenty of Buddhist temples scattered around the Shinto shrines. Many of Choshu's samurai followed some form of Buddhist teachings. "Buddhism isn't forbidden."

"I'm not a Buddhist." The girl informed him softly, staring at the ground.

Kenshin narrowed his eyes, then it came to him. She was from Shimabara, the site of the Shimabara revolution led by Christian peasants against greedy daimyos. His master, Hiko told him about how the Tokugawa forces had massacred every last man woman and child who'd rallied around Amakusa Shiro and dared to revolt against his daimyos and the backbreaking taxes they'd levied on the region. He also told Kenshin of the torture and punishments meted out before the revolution. After it was over, and the last decapitated body was cleared away from Hara Castle, Christianity was forbidden in Japan. Even now, hundreds of years later, it was seen as subversive and traitorous by the Bakufu.

Remembering something he'd seen Shunme do to Tama back at the inn, Kenshin placed his free hand on top of the girl's head and gently rumpled her hair.

She looked up at him inquiringly, but without fear.

Looking into her eyes, Kenshin promised, "I won't tell anyone that you're a Christian."

"Thank you!" The little girl smiled. "You're really nice."

Kenshin's breath caught. What a joke. Nice? If the child only knew the truth about him.

Making a huge effort, he kept his bleak thoughts from appearing on his face. "Come." He told the girl, and walked her in silence back to her street.

As soon as they reached the house, Kenshin set the bucket down, nodded, and walked quickly away, without giving her a chance to speak. It was now almost completely dark. He knew she couldn't have seen him very well in the dim starlight, and he'd been careful to keep his head down, and his hair forward over his scar. If Nakamura asked her, she'd only be able to say that a young stranger had helped her carry the water home.

Nakamura. Now that Kenshin knew he cared for a concubine enough to buy her freedom from a brothel, he didn't quite know what to do with the information. It changed nothing. And he would never let Nakamura know what he'd discovered. As he'd promised the little girl, he now made a silent promise to the angry samurai. He'd never tell. Nakamura's heartaches were his own.

Decision made, Kenshin walked on through the night to the inn.

END CHAPTER FIVE


	6. Chapter six

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or story.

Note to reviewers: xZig-zagx – Glad you like Nakamura's character. It's strange how secondary characters somehow become more important than you thought they'd be when you start writing! Saikor-Earth13 – Nakamura is definitely a complex soul, though I hadn't really planned him that way when I began this story. Lilmatchgirl007 – Glad you liked the fighting seen. There will be more though probably not for a couple of chapters. Kenshin's fight scenes tend to be short because he's just so darned good at fighting that my villains simply get killed within seconds. He will, however, be going to Kyoto later on in the story and may meet up with a few Shinsengumi. LadyRhiyana – Welcome! I'm trying hard to stay true to both history and the tone of the OVAs, and I'm happy you noticed. About the whole "battousai" thing, I probably simply mis-used the term. I can't seem to find any reliable definitions. Some websites claim it means 'assassin' or 'manslayer' while another said it meant 'master of the sheathing sword'. I settled for head assassin, simply because it seemed to best describe Kenshin's role.

CHAPTER SIX

The summer of 1865 passed slowly, the June storms giving way to heavy July and August heat waves. Still the Choshu militia drilled and practiced until they thought and acted as one. Katsura's other bodyguards sometimes joined them, learning how to load and fire the new breech loading rifles which Sakamoto Ryoma's trading company had bought for them from foreign merchants in Nagasaki, while pretending to buy them for Satsuma, the clan favored by the Emperor and the shogun.

Kenshin practiced as well, alone at dawn outside of town. Spurning the rifle, he drilled only with his sword, executing the Hiten Mitsurugi style movements over and over, though he knew them by heart already. Sometimes Shunme would come to fetch him if Katsura had an early engagement and requested them as bodyguards for that day.

With the Fall came more rumors that the Tokugawa shogunate, the Bakufu, was again planning a second expedition to punish Choshu. The rumors had died down after the Dutch Consul General's repudiation of Kokura Clan's slander against Choshu. Rumors, however, seemed to have a life of their own, and resurged like the swirling incoming tide on Shimonoseki's shores.

Kenshin and Shunme were cleaning their swords in the common room of the inn when Nakamura, Takahata at his heels, entered. Oshio and Hojo, the two newest recruits to join the squad of bodyguards, were guarding Katsura that day.

Nakamura glanced around the room, dismissed Kenshin and the common soldiers scattered around the tatami mats, and marched up to Shunme, the only other samurai seated on the floor.

"Have you heard?" He demanded, as his shadow Takahata joined him to stare down at Shunme.

"I've heard lots of things, which do you want to discuss?" replied Shunme flippantly.

Nakamura clenched then unclenched his jaw. "The Emperor has agreed to open two more ports to the foreign ships! He's bowing to the shogun's wishes. And probably Satsuma's too!"

"Now, Nakamura," Shunme laid down his oiled rice paper and set his sword's hilt end on his knee. "Why would Satsuma want the Emperor to open more ports to the foreigners? What could they possibly gain from it?" he asked reasonably.

"Why do those dogs ever do anything? All I know is Kobe and Osaka are going to be filled with foreign ships. And why? Because in exchange for that, the shogun got the indemnity reduced for the time we fired on the foreign ships in Shimonoseki Straits. You know what this means, don't you? Those Satsuma rats are going to blame the opening of the ports on us. They're going to say that if we hadn't fired on those ships to expel the foreigners then there wouldn't have been an indemnity payment to begin with, and we wouldn't have to open the two ports closest to Kyoto now! They're going to make it sound like it's all our fault!"

Nakamura began pacing in agitation, left hand planted on his hip, right cutting through the air to emphasize his points. "It's just giving the Bakufu one more reason to turn against us, and the Emperor is so angry it's likely he'll never let us back into the imperial court. Satsuma will have his ear forever!"

Shunme sighed. "Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down." Nakamura burst out angrily, but paused to let Shunme continue.

"Then think about this logically. We can't do a thing about Satsuma's control over the Emperor. We tried that before, remember?" Shunme paused and waited until Nakamura stopped snorting in fury at the reminder of the Forbidden Gates conflict. "All we can do right now is prepare for the invasion. It looks like the second expedition is really going to happen after all. First things first, I always say!"

Shunme grinned and began to re-assemble his sword. "Don't worry. I heard from Katsura that Choshu is going to buy another warship. We'll blast the Bakufu out of the water if they try to come for us. Barring that, there's always me."

Takahata cocked his head, and Nakamura stared. "There's always you what?"

Shunme stuck his sword back in its sheath. "I'll protect you of course! You'll have nothing to fear with me by your side." He pounded his fist into his chest and struck a valiant pose. "I'll protect your body, your honor, and your virtue too, assuming you want that protected, and…"

"You go too far." Nakamura burst out through clenched teeth. He wheeled, forcing Takahata to scamper out of his way, and strode across the mat.

Kenshin sat quietly, having watched the whole exchange without speaking. As Nakamura passed, he kicked at the box of cleaning supplies Kenshin had been using, scattering rice paper in his wake.

"You shouldn't bait him like that." Kenshin told Shunme, and calmly began to retrieve the rice paper.

Shunme sighed, and crawled over to help. "Nakamura takes himself too seriously. Everything's a drama with him. He needs a little loosening up."

Kenshin simply looked at him.

Shunme grinned unrepentantly. "You know, if you stood up to him a little more, he might not be so mean to you. You could always try to find out one of his vices or secrets and hold it over him. Guys like that always have a secret life. That's why they're so easy to annoy, don't you think?"

Kenshin shrugged, and replaced the wooden lid on the box of cleaning supplies. It wouldn't do to have Shunme find out about Nakamura's dying concubine. He'd be likely to throw it in Nakamura's face one day. Kenshin might not like Nakamura, but he respected his privacy. "Is it true, what he said about the ports and the Emperor?" he asked, changing the subject.

Shunme lay down on his back and stared up at the inn's timbered ceiling. "Yes, he got that part right, but it's also true about the ship. There's a wooden sailing vessel called the 'Union' up for sale. Rumor has it that Ryoma's company is going to broker the deal. He sent a guy named Chojiro to help out. I hear he's a nice kid from good merchant stock. He's a bean jam maker's son." Shunme laughed softly. "That's Ryoma for you, always looking at ability over birth."

His cleaning completed, Kenshin replaced his sword in its sheath and set it by his side. Ryoma didn't care about social stature? That explained why he'd bothered to remember Kenshin, and why his friend Nakaoka Shintaro had thanked him. For the first time, he thought seriously about Ryoma's offer to allow him to join Ryoma's Kameyama Company. Then he considered Shunme, the source of this information. "How do you know all this?" he asked.

A big grin covered Shunme's face. "It's like I keep telling you. People like to tell me things." He rolled over onto his belly. "I'm interested in people, I like to talk to them, and I like to listen. If you'd just show a little more interest in the people around you they'd like you too."

Kenshin stood and tucked his sheathed sword into his obi, the long sash wound around his waist. "I don't need to be liked to get my job done." As he walked away he heard Shunme call out.

"There's more to life than fighting, you know!"

'There was' thought Kenshin to himself. 'But not anymore.' Now there was just his obligation to Katsura, and his determination to finish the job of destroying the Bakufu so that they'd never destroy another life ever again. If that meant continuing to fight, even to kill, then so be it, but at least he wouldn't be killing from the shadows anymore.

Kenshin left the inn and walked out into the street outside, lifting his face to the pale autumn sun.

o-o-o

It was a breezy day in the waning days of September when Katsura left the Choshu administration building before dusk. He was walking quickly, conferring with Shunme, as he left the building. Kenshin immediately fell in behind, and found himself lengthening his stride to keep up.

He tried not to listen, keeping his eyes and attention on the pedestrians they passed, scanning them for threats or hostile looks, but he couldn't help but overhear Katsura's words now and then.

The man positively radiated excitement. Words like "Okubo," "Rice," and "Shimonoseki" were bandied about.

Katsura kept speaking all the way to the gate of his home, where Takahata, who seemed to be the favored guard for night duty, waited for him.

With a last few words to Shunme, Katsura looked up, noticed Kenshin for the first time, and nodded approvingly at him before turning to go back inside. It was good to see that Katsura had gone back to treating him normally.

For a long time after Tomoe's death, Kenshin saw guilt in Katsura's eyes whenever he'd spoken to him. It was as if Katsura kept him around to torture himself with the reminder that he'd set the events into motion that led to Tomoe's death. Kenshin never blamed Katsura for what happened to her, but he'd never found the words to tell that to Katsura. Whatever happened today had made Katsura forget his self-torture.

"You'll never guess what just happened today." Shunme burst out the minute he and Kenshin began walking back to the inn.

"What?" asked Kenshin, resigned to a long, drawn out story.

Shunme hummed for a minute, then said, "On the other hand, I'm not going to tell you yet."

Kenshin simply looked at him.

"Nope! This news is too good to tell over and over. Besides, I want you to see Nakamura's face when he learns it too. So I won't tell you yet however much you beg." Shunme paused, and waited.

Kenshin kept walking.

"I really won't tell you no matter what."

Kenshin stayed quiet.

"Not even if you offer me money."

Sighing mentally, Kenshin let Shunme go on and on about all the things Kenshin could offer him to get him to talk until they reached the inn.

On the side of the courtyard, Mariko, the innkeeper's wife, and Tama were taking the last of the linens off the clothesline and folding them into a basket. Tama had to stand on her tiptoes to keep the linens from dragging in the dirt. Her mother sighed and took them from her before they landed in the dust.

"Good evening, ladies!" Shunme called out. Mariko's tired face relaxed into an indulgent smile as she bowed low in greeting. "You're out late with the wash, I see." Shunme observed.

Tama pouted. "I'm helping!" she informed Shunme. "It won't take long now."

A quick roll of Mariko's eyes over Tama's head told them that Tama was more of a hindrance than a help. She lifted the basket to her hip, wished them a "good evening" with a quick dip of her head, and then took Tama's hand and led her around the side of the inn.

"I bet this was a quiet little inn for travelers before we took it over." Commented Shunme. "I've never seen innkeepers work so hard."

Kenshin frowned. He should have realized that the full house of warriors was a hardship for one young couple to take care of on their own. He wondered why they didn't hire more help, then realized that all of Choshu had mobilized for war. There were no extra hands for hire.

Shunme bounded up the steps to the porch and slide open the main door dramatically, standing in the doorway as Nakamura and the others looked up.

"You'll never guess what happened." He announced.

Kenshin came up from behind, intending to pass by Shunme and remove his zori sandals so he could go sit on the tatami mat, but Shunme kept his arm across the doorway, forcing him to stand behind him and look over Shunme's arm at the faces staring at the melodramatic samurai.

"Today, the officials received word that the second expedition against Choshu is certain,"

A collective sigh went up from the soldiers.

Shunme held up one hand. "I know, you already know that, but there's more. Okuba of Satsuma flat out refused to join the expedition against Choshu. Satsuma will not fight us in the coming battle." He turned his gaze pointedly at Nakamura. "I guess Satsuma isn't so bad after all."

The wooden fan Nakamura had been holding snapped in half. "Yes they are. Have you forgotten what happened at the Forbidden Gates? Katsura will never forgive them for that."

Pleased with the response to his announcement, Shunme's eyes scanned the room, reveling in the reactions. "Actually, yes," he told Nakamura in a mock-apologetic tone. "At the meeting today the officials, including Katsura, took Ryoma's suggestion and are planning to send rice to the Satsuma soldiers in Kyoto as a gesture of gratitude for taking a stand against the expedition. Well, that and allowing us to buy guns using their name since the shogun won't let us buy them legally. It looks like the only weapons Katsura will be launching at Satsuma are rice balls."

Shunme laughed, his trademark belly laugh rising infectiously out of his mouth. Some of the soldiers grinned back instinctively, but Nakamura, his face a mask of fury, threw his ruined fan to the ground and marched out.

Still laughing, Shunme entered the room and stood to the side. Kenshin moved back out onto the porch, quickly vacating the path Nakamura had to take.

Nakamura was so angry that he didn't even see Kenshin, he just stomped down the steps, across the courtyard and out the gate. Because he was standing on the porch, Kenshin saw the top of Nakamura's head moving away from the inn toward the street where his concubine lived.

As he watched him disappear, Shunme reappeared in the doorway. "You coming inside, Kenshin?"

"Yes." Kenshin moved past Shunme, who remained in the doorway. "Aren't you?"

Shunme shook his head. "No, there's something I have to do." With that, he went down the porch steps, across the yard, and out the gate, headed in the same direction as Nakamura.

Kenshin sighed. He hoped Shunme would have the sense to stay out of Nakamura's way. Nakamura's behavior wasn't the best, but he wasn't the only arrogant samurai in Choshu, yet Shunme seemed determined to push him. Was it to get back at him for his rudeness to Kenshin and the other non-samurai bodyguards? Or was it personal?

Dismissing those thoughts, Kenshin went back inside the inn.

END CHAPTER SIX


	7. Chapter seven

Note to reviewers: Sorry, this one's a short chapter! More to follow shortly – promise!

XZig-zagx – Thanks for the heads up! The mistake is now fixed. Sigh. No matter how many times you proof read a chapter….

Sailor-Earth13 – Thanks for the review, and I promise to keep researching.

Conspirator – (cool name, by the way) Thank you for the lovely review!

Haku baiku – Welcome, and very perceptive take on Shunme! Is he all that he seems? You'll have to read on to find out! I needed a foil for Kenshin's serious demeanor, and Shunme's goofiness seemed to fit the bill.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or story.

CHAPTER SEVEN

It was October now. Katsura divided his time between the administration building in Yamaguchi, and traveling to Shimonoseki to make deals with the rice merchants to purchase rice to send to Kyoto for the Satsuma soldiers stationed there.

Nakamura made sure to be unavailable for the trips to Shimonoseki. He began spending more time with Murata, learning to use guns. Takahata went with him as much as possible, so that left Kenshin, Shunme, Oshio and Hojo to accompany Katsura on the rice buying trips.

On one occasion, Katsura was an hour early for his appointment with a rice merchant. The man worked out of his home, so Katsura was allowed to wait in the family's common room, a vast square chamber with a sunken area in the middle where the fire pit sent plumes of smoke up to the opening in the ceiling. Suspended by a long chain over the fire was the family's metal cooking pot.

Since the house was set right on the street, there was no porch for Kenshin to wait on, and Katsura motioned to him to come inside and sit by him on the floor.

An elderly woman brought them tea, then left them alone, retreating to the family chambers to the left of the common room.

"Do you resent giving rice to Satsuma as Nakamura does?" Katsura asked Kenshin suddenly.

Kenshin finished his sip from the ceramic cup and answered. "Not really. If it helps topple the Bakufu it should be done."

"I wish Nakamura could see it that way." Katsura set his tea down on the tatami mat and folded his arms, sticking his hands in his kimono sleeves. A serious expression crossed his face. "I understand Nakamura's feelings. Choshu will fight the bakufu to the last man, and to fight effectively we need weapons, but I will not be beholden to those Satsuma dogs. Once this rice is shipped, our obligation to them is over."

"Yes." Kenshin said in agreement, and continued to sip his tea until the merchant come in muttering apologies as though he'd been late when actually Katsura had been early.

Later that afternoon Shunme went with Katsura on other business while Kenshin delivered a message from Katsura to one of the ships' captains down at the docks.

Mission accomplished, Kenshin took a moment to stand back and watch the bustle of docks without having to be on the watch for possible threats. Foreign ships, with their distinctive size and triple masts anchored off shore. Closer in, the long, low Japanese vessels crowded in by the docks. Peasant class dockworkers loaded and unloaded the vessels amid curses and shouted orders.

Gradually, Kenshin became aware of someone watching him from behind. He turned and saw Sakamoto Ryoma, sun browned, his eyes squinting as if he'd been staring at the horizon from the deck of a ship. Those narrow eyes widened in recognition as Kenshin turned.

"You! I know you. You're Katsura's bodyguard!" Ryoma yelled and pointed. He stepped up and asked, "Is Katsura in town? I want to talk to him."

Kenshin nodded, ducking slightly as a man walked by with a long rolled carpet balanced on his shoulder.

Ryoma grimaced. "Let's get out of here. I know a good tavern." Without bothering to wait for Kenshin's agreement, he wheeled around and stalked away.

In a short while they were sitting on the floor at a low table in the tavern Ryoma favored, a bottle of sake and two shallow drinking bowls in front of them. Ryoma was already on his second bowl, lifting it to his lips and downing it in one gulp.

Kenshin sipped his sake slowly, emulating his master, Hiko's, way of drinking. Hiko Seijuro loved sake, and savored every mouthful. To him, gulping down sake would have been like sacrilege.

Ryoma wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "So what's Katsura doing in Shimonoseki? Buying rice, huh?"

If Ryoma already knew, why did he ask? Kenshin merely nodded.

"Isn't it great that Satsuma and Choshu are finally starting to get along?"

Kenshin's hand, drawing the drinking bowl up to his mouth, froze for a second, then continued on its journey. He took a sip and set the bowl down again without answering.

Ryoma's eyes sharpened. "What? You don't approve?"

"No, it's not that."

"Well what then?" Ryoma leaned on the table. "Don't you want Choshu and Satsuma to work together against the Bakufu?"

"Choshu and Satsuma…together?" Ryoma must be insane. Not too long ago Satsuma men had fought and killed Choshu soldiers at the battle of the Forbidden Gates.

"They must forget their differences and band together." Ryoma hit the table and leaned in closer. "They must do it for Japan."

"I don't care about Japan. I just want to get rid of the Bakufu." Kenshin spoke low, and with his eyes he sent another message, 'I thought you did too.'

Ryoma stared at him and sighed, disappointed. "You're young. Your vision is too small. You want to topple the Bakufu? Fine, but what about after that? What about the future of Japan?"

"I don't know." Kenshin hadn't thought that far ahead. He hadn't wanted to think about the years stretching ahead without Tomoe. It was enough to fulfill his obligation to Katsura. The future, the years of atoning for his crimes, could wait.

Ryoma's eyes gleamed. "Then let me tell you what I think should be the future of our country."

Kenshin sipped and listened as the impassioned samurai told him about a Japan where all men were equal, where the great clans worked together for the good of the whole country, and not their individual provinces. He told Kenshin of a new type of government, a democracy, which worked in America and would, if Ryoma had anything to say about it, become the new government of Japan once the Tokugawa shogunate was gone.

When he was done speaking, he looked at Kenshin expectantly.

"I'm just a bodyguard. I don't know much about government."

"NO!" Again Ryoma's hand came down on the table. "That's the whole point. Everyone will know about government. Everyone will have a say in the government, from peasants to samurai. The new Japan will only work if we all work together, like a family, with give and take. Like Choshu and Satsuma are doing now."

Kenshin thought of Nakamura, his hatred for Satsuma, and Katsura's desire to pay back Satsuma's favor to be rid of any obligation to them. He got to his feet and stared down at Ryoma. "It is a good vision, if you can get it to work."

"It will work." said Ryoma, with the air of one giving a solemn vow. "It has to."

"I'll tell Katsura you want to speak to him."

Ryoma waved his hand. "I have to leave tonight, but tell him I'll be back in mid-October. By then we may have more news of the sale of the Union."

Kenshin nodded, and left Ryoma staring moodily at the empty sake bowl in front of him.

END CHAPTER SEVEN


	8. Chapter eight

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or plot.

Note to Reviewers: Welcome Lolo popoki! I'm glad you like the historical detail, because you're about to get another one in chapter eight. Chojiro and the ceremony happened. Xzig-zagx – I think I updated the day before, but I'm updating again to make up for having the last chapter be so short, since this one is short too! Haku baikou – Yes, Ryoma was a fascinating guy. He didn't care about etiquette or social status, he was brash, opinionated and completely devoted to toppling the Bakufu and bringing a new order to Japan – I really like the way he's portrayed in the Japanese TV series 'Shinsengumi!'. And thanks for the lovely compliment!

CHAPTER EIGHT

Yamaguchi Castletown, late October 1865. The ceremony at the administration building was now over, as was Kenshin's duty for the day. Nakamura and Takahata were already at Katsura's side. The one good thing about Nakamura's furious social climbing was the fact that it caused him to stick to Katsura, the acknowledged leader of the Choshu loyalist faction, like glue. And where Nakamura went, Takahata, his skinny little shadow, followed.

One of Sakamoto Ryoma's henchmen from his Kameyama Trading Company had received a sword from the Lord of Choshu himself, in recognition of his efforts in brokering the deal to buy a warship, the Union, from a Nagasaki arms dealer. Shunme told Kenshin that the ship cost 37,000 ryo.

Though Nakamura and Takahata had relieved Shunme and Kenshin early, so that they could be with Katsura during the ceremony, Shunme decided to stay and watch.

With all the extra nobles and officials crowding the interior and outer precincts of the building, Kenshin decided to stay as well, to keep an eye on things.

He walked around the corner of the building and saw a short man standing alone staring into a small pond. In his right hand he held a sheathed Katana, his thumb clenched on the tsuba at the hilt to keep it closed. He wore white hakama and a blue top.

It was uncommon, and perked Kenshin's interest. Swordsmen kept their swords tucked in their obi belts at their waist. He came closer to the man, who, sensing his presence, looked over his shoulder and watched him come near.

When Kenshin reached him, he turned back to the pond. "Amazing fish, koi."

Kenshin hmmed noncommittally.

"Watch how they swarm around each other. Their life is simple. All they want is food."

The man was interested in fish, not mayhem. Kenshin stepped back to leave when suddenly the man turned and faced him.

"Forgive me," he said. "I don't think I met you inside. My name is Kondo, Chojiro. You can call me Chojiro."

"Himura, Kenshin." Kenshin gave his name unhesitatingly. So this was Chojiro, and that explained why he was holding his sword. As he'd turned Kenshin saw that he already had the two swords of a samurai, the Katana and Wakizashi, tucked in his obi.

"Ah, you're the bodyguard Ryoma spoke of."

"Yes." Ryoma spoke of him? Kenshin's eyes flicked again to the sword in Chojiro's hand.

Chojiro noticed and brought the sheathed weapon up, holding it between them. "It's a beauty isn't it?" He asked dispassionately, then let it back down and held it at his side. "I'm grateful, but it changes nothing."

He glanced back over his shoulder where little groups of nobles were conferring. "To most of them, despite my new samurai title, I'm still just a bean jam maker's son." Chojiro nodded to Kenshin's waist where his single sword lay tucked into his obi at his hip. "Not too long ago I was restricted from wearing two swords."

"I only need one." Kenshin told him.

Chojiro smiled sadly. "And now I have three." He regarded the sword in his right hand again. "I don't really know what to do with this. If I wear it back in Nagasaki, my fellow Kameyama company members will think that I'm getting above myself."

Kenshin frowned. That didn't sound like the idealized Japan Ryoma had talked to him about back in the tavern in Shimonoseki.

"Ah, but it's useless to complain. Complaining won't change anything. Here only Ryoma doesn't seem to care who a man's parents were. It's different in America, and in Europe. One day perhaps Ryoma will sail there, and I'll go too." He shrugged, glancing once again at the nobles behind him. "I'm going with him soon to Kyoto. We have to let Saigo know that the rice shipments are being prepared." Chojiro looked into Kenshin's eyes and asked politely. "Have you ever been to Kyoto?"

"Yes." Kenshin didn't mention that the last time he'd been there was the Gion festival, and that he'd fled right before a good portion of the city went up in flames thanks to Katsura's rival, Miyabe's, insane plan. Kyoto's bustling streets and hidden dangers came rushing back. He'd killed many men in Kyoto without a thought, as many men had sought to kill him.

"Be careful." Kenshin said urgently, surprising himself. "There are many Shinsengumi patrols in Kyoto."

"Yes," answered Chojiro, looking a little surprised himself. "Thanks. I will."

Kenshin nodded and moved away, going back to what he did now, guarding Katsura instead of killing for him. He wasn't a battousai anymore. His Kyoto days were over.

END CHAPTER EIGHT


	9. Chapter nine

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X characters or plot.

Note to reviewers: Haku Baiku – always nice to hear from you! As for Chojiro ah, er, well, hm. His fate was kind of decided by history so he won't figure much in the story except as a way of illustrating the rigid stratification of Japanese society back then.

Lilmatchgirl007 – sorry to hear about your flu, and I hope you're better now. There will be butt-kicking in this chapter per your request, I promise. Though not many people in Choshu will recognize Kenshin as Battousai since most of his Choshu comrades in Kyoto who knew him as Battousai got wiped out at the Ikedaya Inn raid.

Sailor-Earth13 – I would have posted this chapter this morning, but our favorite fan fiction website was down.

Veleda – Welcome! Thanks for the information about "Battousai" – the various websites' contradictory translations of that word were giving me a headache!

Lolo popoki – see above miserable attempt at excuse to SailorEarth13 – I meant to update quicker, honest!

XZig-zagx – Kenshin will be going back to Kyoto in later chapters, I promise! Hope you like the new one!

CHAPTER NINE

The light was fading. The sun would be gone soon. Orange glinted off the tiled roof of the warehouse building down by the Shimonoseki docks where Katsura was finishing up his last transaction. It was November now, and there was a chill in the air.

Kenshin resisted the urge to stick his hands in his kimono sleeves to keep them warm as he paced up and down before the wood and plaster building. Nakamura was inside with Katsura. Earlier, Shunme and Takahata had accompanied Katsura to the usual mansion for a meeting with Ryoma and his friend Chojiro, who'd brought Choshu's new warship, the Union, to Shimonoseki from Nagasaki.

Kenshin found that he was disappointed that he'd missed seeing Ryoma again. The man was weird, but his ideas were interesting. He wondered how Chojiro had fared with his jealous comrades back in Nagasaki when he returned with a sword given to him by Choshu's main lord. He shrugged off the thought. It wasn't as if Nakamura would bother to talk to a non-samurai like him, even if he asked how the meeting had gone.

The door of the warehouse opened, and Katsura backed out, his outline framed by the light within.

He moved his head to throw a last comment inside. "Yes, that makes 2,400 bushels total. It must be sent to Satsuma by the end of the season."

The merchant inside the warehouse murmured an indistinguishable reply. Katsura bowed, and stepped out of the doorway, Nakamura closely following.

Nodding at Kenshin, he set off down the dark street. Kenshin fell in behind Nakamura as he passed. As was his custom following a long meeting, Katsura spoke quietly to Nakamura of other affairs. Nakamura wasn't happy about having any part of sending rice to Satsuma, and sensitive despite his weariness, Katsura set about getting his mind off it.

"Hold it right there, you traitor!"

A man wearing a dark brown kimono top and black hakama stepped into the street, blocking their way.

Kenshin's sword was drawn and in his hand a few seconds before Nakamura, who stepped immediately in front of Katsura, placing his body between Katsura and the newcomer.

"Who are you?" Katsura's voice rang out without the slightest hint of fear.

"A patriot, unlike you!" The man spat. "With you out of the way, the rightful government can take back control of Choshu."

Kenshin's eyes flicked back and forth. The ambush, if that's what it was, was well planned. The street here was narrow, buildings set so close together that while no other assailants could be hiding between them, it also meant that Katsura would not be able to escape between them either.

Katsura's voice went on, speaking in a reasonable, if slightly impatient tone. "And then what? Hand Choshu back to the Bakufu? Do you really think that will stop the second expedition? The shogun is out for Choshu's complete destruction. Handing control back to you lot won't do anything to stop that."

"Hah! That's what you think!"

The would-be assassin sounded confident, too confident to be alone. As battousai, Kenshin executed his victims by himself, his confidence coming from his Hiten Mitsurugiryu training and the ease of long practice, but he hadn't been as shrill or as confrontational as this one. If the man had partners, they weren't hiding between the buildings. That left the rooftops.

Kenshin pivoted so that his back was to Katsura, and scanned the rooftops on either side. There he was, a second assassin, crouched down at the roof's edge.

"Now!" Screamed the first man.

The second assassin dropped to the street, the sword in his hand glinting. As he landed, Kenshin struck, running forward and swinging his katana horizontally as he passed. The man's head rolled along the floor, removed from his body by a single swipe of Kenshin's blade.

Jumping down from the roof, unless you landed on an unprepared opponent, left you vulnerable the second after you landed because it took at least a second for most people to get their feet under them and regain a sense of balance. The would-be assassin forgot that, and paid the price.

Behind him, Kenshin heard Nakamura's blade engaging the first man's. He scanned the rooftops one last time, and saw that they were empty. He rushed around Katsura who stood with his hands clenched, swordless, due to his promise to Takasugi to let others fight for him.

Nakamura was holding his own. The two men's blades kissed and slid off each other as they passed, and pivoted to confront one another again. Then the man in brown and black executed a downward slash, forcing Nakamura to raise his blade at an angle to parry it.

As Nakamura lifted his sword, the other man brought his leg forward, kicking him in the kneecap. Nakamura grimaced, but held the block, stepping back and bringing his blade around in a horizontal slash at neck level.

The assassin dropped under Nakamura's katana just in time, and springing up from his crouch, slashed his own sword upward diagonally.

Nakamura's blade was still pointed to the rear, at the tail end of its horizontal slash. Not having time to bring it back around to block his opponent's blade, he did the next best thing and retreated.

Unfortunately for him, he stepped on a patch of loose grains of rice, spilled in the street from some shipment earlier that day. His back heel rolled, and he went down, the very tip assassin's blade catching him across the forehead, spattering blood as he fell.

Nakamura landed on his back, his hands, including the one holding his sword, over his head.

Snarling, the assassin jumped forward, blade poised to thrust into Nakamura's unprotected chest, when he stopped and looked down in surprise at the blade protruding through his own torso.

Kenshin stepped back from the spot where he'd lunged forward only a second before, and drew his katana out of the assassin, who fell dead, and landed face down next to Nakamura.

Whirling at a movement behind Katsura, he rushed several steps past the startled Choshu leader to confront the third and last assailant, who'd been creeping up the street from behind.

Seeing that he'd been discovered, the man raised a bow, already notched with an arrow, and let it loose.

With no time to turn around and shove Katsura out of the way, Kenshin concentrated and brought his sword down at the precise moment the arrow whistled by him.

Two halves, the tip and the feathered end of the arrow, clattered to the ground. The bowman stepped back in shock, inadvertently stepping into a patch of light from a lantern hanging by the doorway of the timbered building next to him. He threw the bow down and ran.

Kenshin was just starting after him when Katsura's voice stopped him. "Kenshin!"

He turned and saw Katsura kneeling by Nakamura, whose face was a mask of blood.

"I can't get the bleeding to stop."

"I'll be fine." growled Nakamura, protesting. "You shouldn't dirty your hands with this."

Kenshin walked back, hearing the sound of hoof beats clattering away. He filed the information away mentally as he stared down at Nakamura.

The cut had pierced flesh, but not bone. Nakamura would live. He handed Katsura a wad of rice paper from his kimono, reserving two sheets for himself. As Katsura placed the wad against Nakamura's wound, Kenshin used a sheet to wipe the blood off his sword before resheathing it, drawing the muni, the dull side of the blade, across the mouth of the sheath in a quick movement before inserting it, tip first.

In a few moments, the rice paper was red with Nakamura's blood, but the bleeding slowed. The surly samurai reached under Katsura's arm and pawed the blood out of his eyes.

"The last one?" asked Katsura softly.

"Got away." said Kenshin.

"Hmm. Did you see his face?"

The image of the man's terrified face came back clearly. He'd seen it distinctly in the lantern's light, a long face with a small mole or perhaps a tiny scar on one cheekbone. The man had gambled everything on his skill with the arrow and he'd lost. The knowledge of that had been apparent in his almond shaped, dark eyes.

"Yes."

Katsura placed Nakamura's hand on top of the rice paper and rose, leaving him to apply pressure himself.

"I didn't see his face." Katsura told Kenshin. "I need to know who he was, and if there are any other Choshu conservatives still out to get me." Katsura let out a breath in a puff of anger. "I thought those potato heads would realize after we wrested control from them that their only option for survival is to fight with us, together, against the Bakufu."

"What do you want me to do?" Kenshin knew, but wanted Katsura to say it, to see how far he'd go in his anger.

"Find him."

"And?"

Katsura sighed, gazing down the street where his would-be killer had disappeared. "You are no longer the hitokiri battousai, Kenshin. I'm not asking you to kill him. Just bring him back."

"For questioning?" Kenshin used the euphemism commonly given for torture.

"That's not your concern." Katsura's voice was sharp, but it softened as he went on. "Most men break at the thought of torture, without ever touching them. Since this one ran, I doubt we'll have to hurt him."

Remembering the terror on the man's face, Kenshin silently agreed.

Something in his face must have told Katsura that he was convinced, for the leader nodded. "Go. Catch up with him. I'll take Nakamura back to the mansion." He raised his voice so that the injured samurai could hear as well. "Now that he can see again, he'll be able to protect me the short way we have left to go." He gave Kenshin a last, speaking glance, forbidding any protest he might make.

Kenshin nodded, and ran off down the street.

END CHAPTER NINE


	10. Chapter ten

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X characters or plot.

Note to Reviewers:

SailorEarth13 – Thanks for your kind words!

Lady Rhiyana – Welcome! I struggle with fight scenes, so I really appreciate the compliment.

Kie-san – I try not to be too heavy handed with the references to Tomoe, so it's good to hear I'm doing it right. As for the studying to add historical accuracy…I wish I could say I haunt college libraries in my free time, but actually I use the few biographies I managed to get my hands on and I surf the internet, and often I still can't find the information I want! Sigh.

xZig-zagx – Thanks for the long distance pat on the back. Consider a hug sent in return!

Lolo popoki – Don't worry, Nakamura's so self-centered he's not even going to mention it! Kenshin is definitely safe from any unseemly displays of gratitude from that guy!

Conspirator – Don't worry if a partial review got sent. Ever since fan fiction dot net did its upgrade weird things have been happening (my review alert seems to have gone on strike!)

Nekotsuki – I'm so sorry you had an accident – was it car or something more mundane like tripping over the dog? (been there, done that! Living with older dogs in the house is like having a permanent obstacle course) I hope you're OK! I also hope you like this next chapter, though it's a tad on the depressing side.

CHAPTER TEN

Kenshin ran lightly down the street after the assassin. The street ended, and as Kenshin rounded the corner he stopped, sensing movement.

Flicking the tsuba of his sword with his thumb, he loosened it from its sheath.

It was just horses. Two of the animals, one a dirty gray and the other dark brown, stamped their feet. Kenshin reversed the gesture, and used his thumb to move the tsuba back against the mouth of the sheath. Horses were no threat.

The animals were tethered to a wooden slat from a sliding window, the flat thin planks half open in front, though the building was dark and silent.

Kenshin walked up to them. The third assassin had escaped on horseback. These must belong to the other two. Kenshin glanced up the narrow street. This was still the warehouse district, and it was quiet now that the daylight was gone. However, at the end of the street he saw light, and heard sound. With a busy street like that, someone was sure to have noticed the assassin riding swiftly away.

The gray horse blew softly through its nostrils and nudged Kenshin's chest. Reflexively, his hand came up to brush the animal's cheek. For an assassin's horse, it was pretty friendly.

Kenshin patted along its neck and found the saddle. He checked the girth. It was tight. The horses were ready to provide a quick escape for riders who would never come.

Walking closely around the gray's backside, he loosened the brown horse's girth a little then undid its bridle and the gray horse's bridle from the window. Leaving the brown steed's reins in his hand, he threw the other set of reins over the gray's neck and pulled himself into the saddle.

He hadn't been on a horse much since he learned how to ride at Takasugi's loyalist training camp, the year he'd left master Hiko's service to join the Ishin Shishi. Luckily, the horse he rode wasn't very spirited.

Pulling the brown along by the reins, he headed for the light and voices at the end of the street.

The failed assassin hadn't been very discreet. He'd torn through the street like a cyclone. Everyone remembered him, and the direction he'd taken.

It was the same story from street to street as Kenshin traced the man's progress through Shimonoseki. On the outskirts of town, it grew harder to find witnesses, but by knocking at farmer's doors, Kenshin found people who heard a horse go by at a gallop.

Eventually it became too dark to continue. Clouds covered the moon. He spent the night among the trees along the side of the road, the horses rubbed down with grass and tethered, after he'd led them to a stream to drink. After that he found a tree to set his back against and slept sitting up, his katana upright against his shoulder.

The next morning he re-saddled the horses and continued, buying rice for breakfast from an obliging farm wife.

It was at the next farmhouse, however, that he caught a bit of luck.

"A man with a mole on his left cheek riding a black horse?" The old farmer's voice whistled through a gap in his teeth. He grinned. "That would be Urashima. He's the closest thing to a samurai we've got near here. Went to the big city a few years ago, but he came back last year when they had that big ruckus. Guess he learned he wasn't too good for farming like his old man after all."

The elderly man cackled and gave Kenshin directions to Urashima's house.

The road climbed, and came out at a relatively high hill overlooking the rice paddies below. Perched on the side of the hill was a medium sized home, larger than a peasant hut, but run down. The steeply pitched thatch roof had been patched in some places, but still needed patching in others. It was set off the ground with a low porch wrapped around it.

As Kenshin rode up, he saw a woman, sitting on her knees on the porch, the door to the main room open behind her. As he came closer, the gray he was riding tossed its neck and whickered.

An answering neigh came from an outbuilding next to the main house. Since the gray seemed to want to head that way, Kenshin let it, sparing a glance over his shoulder at the woman, who didn't move or react.

The outbuilding was a barn. Remembering Takasugi's strictures about the care and feeding of horses, Kenshin unsaddled and unbridled the animals, made sure they had food and water, and left them in the barn.

The woman continued to ignore Kenshin until he walked right in front of her and stopped.

She raised her eyes and looked in his face, but from the faraway expression in her eyes, Kenshin wasn't sure she even saw him.

"I told him not to go." She whispered. "I told him it was foolish, but he wouldn't listen to me."

Kenshin frowned. "Urashima is gone?" he asked.

She shook her head and pointed silently through the open doorway of the house.

Kenshin hopped onto the porch and stood in the doorway, debating whether or not to draw his sword, but the house had a quiet, empty feel to it.

He took a few steps onto the tatami mats inside then stopped.

He smelled blood.

The smell came from an area to his right, where a doorway led to a smaller room. Eyes on the doorway, Kenshin watched as a fly flew past him and through that doorway. Before he arrived, he already guessed what he'd see.

At the far end of the room the man called Urashima lay face down in a pool of blood on the floor. He'd fallen on his right cheek, and visible on the left one exposed to view was a small black mole.

Kenshin squatted by the body. It was him, the man he'd seen in the lantern's light.

Swatting at the fly that had come in just before him, Kenshin reached out and grabbed the man's shoulder, pushing him over, and surveyed the wound. He'd slashed horizontally across his stomach and then up diagonally, the wound terminating at the sternum. Kenshin's eyes narrowed. Urashima had committed sepukku without the benefit of a second to lop his head off after the initial incision.

Knowing that there would be no help to end his suffering, the man had cut upwards to reach his own heart after slitting his belly. It was a very honorable way for a samurai to redeem his family's reputation, but to Kenshin, Urashima was just another dead body. Dead was dead. The type of suicide method used didn't matter to him. It was something only the samurai class appreciated.

The blade Urashima had used lay in the blood pool. Kenshin laid the body back down over it gently. There was a time when corpses were just garbage to him, something that had to be cleaned up after the job was over.

Part of him was still callous that way, but the other part, the side of him that had been re-awakened by Tomoe, saw a man whose life had been cut short.

Kenshin stood and looked around. By the wall facing the front porch was a chest. He opened it and found a blanket. He used it to cover the body.

Walking back outside, he saw that the woman still hadn't moved and continued to stare out at the road leading to her home. He lowered himself to the porch and sat next to her. He wasn't good at this. He hated having to ask, but if he didn't Katsura would just send Choshu officials later, and who knows what sort of men they'd be?

"There were two other men with your husband…" he began.

"Yoshi and Hanagawa." She supplied their names mechanically. "They told him to go. They told him once the conservatives were back in power they'd try to get him his old job back in Shimonoseki. They all used to work in Shimonoseki for the government before Takasugi took control. None of them even had important jobs, but Urashima was so proud when Yoshi got him a job in the city. He thought farming was demeaning for a samurai family. They told him he'd never have to go back to farming again. He'd have a stipend and he'd be a hero."

Tears began to run down her face unchecked. "I don't want a hero. I want my husband back."

Was this how Tomoe had looked when she received news of her fiancée's death in Kyoto? This shocked, incomprehensible grief? Kenshin looked away. What could he say? There were no adequate words. He sat with her in silence until the tears stopped flowing and she went back to staring down the road, as if expecting her husband to ride up.

As he left to go find a farmer's wife to tend to her and the body, he glanced back one last time. The last glimpse he had found her unmoved, chained by her grief to the same spot. Then the road wrapped around a clump of pines, and she was lost to sight.

END CHAPTER TEN


	11. Chapter eleven

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters.

Notes to reviewers are located at the end of the chapter

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Have you got room for one more?" asked the man standing in the inn's courtyard in a pleasant voice with a Tosa accent.

Kenshin was sitting on the porch that afternoon, thumbing the interlocking silk bands on his sword's hilt. Apart from checking for wear and tear on the woven bands that kept his hands from slipping off the hilt when sweaty, he was also watching Sota, the two year old, pulling leaves off a small shrub while his mother hung linens up on the clothesline at the side of the inn.

At the man's voice, she turned around, distracted from her task. She opened her mouth helplessly, beginning to shrug a denial when all of a sudden Shunme burst out from the open door of the inn's common room and jumped off the porch.

"Ike Kurata, you old dog! Where have you been?" he yelled, his round face beaming as he confronted the stranger.

Kurata bowed formally. "Shunme. It is good to see you, old friend."

"Where have you been? I thought you were hanging around Takasugi, but the last few times I visited you weren't there."

"I've been working with Sakamoto Ryoma for the past few months."

Shunme pursed his lips and nodded. "Makes sense, you're from Tosa, he's from Tosa, and we haven't been able to offer you much action around here of late."

He shook his head in mock regret. "The shogun's second expedition is running behind schedule, and it's getting boring waiting for it to come. It's not like it was last year when you and I helped Takasugi kick those conservative potato-heads out of Choshu, huh?"

Kurata smiled good naturedly, and opened his mouth to reply, only to stop as Sota toddled up bearing handfuls of leaves.

"Oh ho, and what have we here?" Shunme scooped up the baby and displayed him to Kurata. "Apart from Kenshin over there," he nodded back at the porch. "This here's our youngest Choshu patriot. Say hello to Sota."

"Hello Sota." repeated Kurata obediently, obviously familiar with the other man's sense of humor.

The innkeeper's wife came up, a basket of dry linens under her arm, which she held out. "Here, I'll take him." she said wearily.

Shunme stopped pretending he was going to eat the leaves in Sota's hand and deposited the baby in the basket. "We can fit another guest, can't we?" he asked the woman in a wheedling tone.

She sighed, but bowed and nodded before carrying Sota off with the laundry basket.

"Hey Kenshin, come here and meet Kurata."

Kenshin tucked his sword back through his obi and came down the steps, bowing politely when he reached Kurata.

"I'm very pleased to meet you." responded Kurata. "I hope we will work well together."

Shunme gasped dramatically. "Does this mean you're coming back to the fold? Like a lost lamb?"

Kurata smiled. "Ryoma thought Katsura could use more protection in Kyoto."

"Kyoto?" Kenshin didn't realize he'd spoken until the word burst out.

Shunme shot him a curious look. "Yeah, Katsura is finally going to Kyoto to meet with Saigo of Satsuma. I meant to tell you earlier. I guess Ryoma wore him down!"

"He can be very persuasive." affirmed Kurata.

"And won't Nakamura be ready to spit like a volcano when he hears about it." Shunme grinned in glee. "Come to think of it, he kind of looks like a volcano when he gets mad. His face turns as red as hot lava, and he spews hot air from his mouth too. I think I'll start calling him 'volcano-head.'" Shunme belly laughed, the ho ho hos filling the courtyard.

Grabbing Kurata by the shoulders, he drew him up the steps and into the inn. Kenshin stood still in the courtyard and watched them go.

Kyoto.

Kenshin hadn't been back since the Ikedaya incident when so many of the Choshu loyalists he'd worked with had been killed by the Shinsengumi. He heard that the subsequent fire had destroyed a swath of the city nearly five miles long by a mile wide.

Kyoto was where he'd met Tomoe.

o-o-o

They traveled by boat, Katsura, Ike Kurata, a messenger sent by Saigo to guide them, Kenshin, Shunme, Oshio and Hojo. Nakamura and Takahata stayed behind.

Kenshin overhead Katsura trying to reason with Nakamura before they left, but Nakamura would have none of it.

"I can't believe you'd let Ryoma send another bodyguard. Aren't I enough? I serve you, Katsura. I would lay down my life for you, but I won't lie down for the Satsuma dogs." Nakamura's voice was harsh with emotion.

Katsura had been silent. "Then I won't ask you to." he'd said quietly, at last.

Now they were in Kyoto. They took a riverboat up the Takase-gawa canal and saw much of the fire damage. Many of the places familiar to Kenshin around the Imperial Palace, such as Choshu's official headquarters, were now gone, though the Ikedaya Inn remained. He saw its tiled roof, and imagined he could see the very window of the room where he'd stayed.

Eventually, they left the canal and walked the rest of the way to Satsuma Headquarters at dusk to avoid recognition. Though they didn't see any Shinsengumi patrols, Kenshin's battousai instincts were at full alert.

They didn't stay at Satsuma's official Kyoto headquarters for long. When Kamatsu Tatewaki, Satsuma's hereditary councilor to the lord of Satsuma, heard that they'd arrived, he insisted they stay at his house instead.

Kenshin was patrolling outside the villa when Saigo Kochinosuke arrived. Saigo was a large man, over 200 pounds. Most of it appeared to be muscle. He walked slowly, ponderously, several warriors at his side, though he left them at the door. An hour later he walked back out, his face as gravely expressionless as it had been when he entered.

Shunme came outside just as Saigo disappeared out the front gate. He folded his arms and stood next to Kenshin.

"Well, Nakamura would have been thrilled."

"What?" Kenshin asked.

Shunme nodded at the gate swinging shut behind Saigo and his entourage. "There is no alliance like Ryoma hoped. Katsura told Saigo off for the Forbidden Gates Incident. And Saigo just sat there and took it all. Never denied a single accusation." Shunme continued to gaze at the gate, unusually serious.

"What did Saigo say?"

"Not much. He nodded, agreed, and then he left."

Kenshin too looked out at the gate in silence.

Shunme clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on. Maybe the next meeting will go better now that Katsura's got all that off his chest."

But there was no next meeting. A week passed. Then another, and still Saigo did not return. Komatsu and his staff went out of their way to be polite and to find things to entertain Katsura with, but Kenshin could tell that his leader was getting impatient.

Shunme was in and out taking messages and running errands for Katsura. Because he'd never been in Kyoto before, his face was unknown to both the Shinsengumi and the city police squads.

One day Kenshin asked permission to go on an errand of his own.

"Katsura. I'd like to go to the street of the stone cutters, if that's alright with you."

He'd just got off guard duty, and Hojo and Oshio were standing out in the hall in front of Katsura's chamber in the mansion. Shunme was out on an errand with Ike Kurata. Now Kenshin sat alone on the tatami mat before his leader.

Katsura sat on his knees, writing a letter on a small square writing table. He lifted the brush from the page.

"Of course Kenshin. I don't have to remind you to be careful, but may I ask why?"

Kenshin stared at the writing table. "I want to hire someone to carve a grave marker for Tomoe."

"Ah." Katsura sucked in the syllable. From under his lowered lashes Kenshin saw him hitch back his kimono sleeve to avoid trailing it over the damp ink on his letter and set down the brush on the table. "Do you need any money?"

"No. I've saved enough." He'd saved nearly all of the wages Katsura had given him since he started bodyguard duty. He'd also saved the money he'd made selling medicines with Tomoe when he was hiding out, but his mind shied away from that memory. In the unfamiliar environs of Komatsu's villa there was nothing to remind him of her, but out in the city streets…

"Go then." Katsura said simply.

Kenshin nodded, got to his feet, and left.

END CHAPTER ELEVEN

Note to Reviewers:

Sailor Earth13 – you made my day! I'm glad I wasn't too predictable.

Haku Baiku – Thanks for the compliment on chapter 10, and you were right about that annoying paragraph in chapter nine (I really should have just left it out!)

Lilmatchgirl007 – Your review history is disabled? Mine too! Grr! Stupid revision of the website! I wish they'd just left well enough alone! As for Nakamura, it would take a lot to change that guy so don't expect much in the way of gratitude for Kenshin.

Kie san – I'll try to update at least once a week to make up for short chapters.

Wyrd – Welcome! As for the horse comment, I think Kenshin, having been a cold blooded assassin himself, would naturally assume everything connected to another assassin would be unfriendly. Plus, if Takasugi did train his men on horses, I figured the horses would be trained to bite, etc. Or Kenshin was just having a random comment pop into his head!

Baka Bokken – Welcome! I hope college is going well – I remember how swamped you get when all those lovely research papers come due! Are you majoring in history? I'm sorry I gave the impression Kenshin doesn't care much about Japan! In the "Trust" OAV Kenshin was definitely concerned about how the Japanese people were suffering under the Bakufu. However, theough he's retained all the passionate idealism and boundless resolve to work for what he believes in that brought him to Takasugi and the loyalists, he's still a teenager. Teenagers don't seem to care much about the nitty gritty details of forming a new type of government (When's the last time a fifteen year old read the US Constitution from choice, or really cared much about exactly how a bill becomes a law?). To my mind, Kenshin would fight against the evil he saw around him because it's what he does best, and trust Katsura to make the right decisions about what will happen after the bakufu is defeated. However, that's just my take on it, I could be wrong!

Lolo popoki – Thanks! I figured if Takasugi had horses at the training camp he would have insisted his men learn how to take care of them.

Xzig-zagx – Thanks for the kind words, and I'll try to keep the historical details coming.

Conspirator – Glad you liked the heartache, there'll be more later!


	12. Chapter twelve

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or plot.

Notes to reviewers are now located at the end of the chapter!

CHAPTER TWELVE

Kyoto's street of the stonecutters was exactly the same, untouched by the fire that had destroyed so much of the city over a year before. It lay at the end of a busy commercial street near the outskirts of town. As Kenshin walked through, he marveled that the sandalmaker, seated on the wooden platform extending part way into the street from his stall, could work in the cold. Ignoring the passersby and the weather, he held a pokkuri, a red high heeled sandal, and adjusted the strap, his fingers dexterous. Behind him shelves full of geta and zori sandals showed the variety of his workmanship.

Motion came from the stall next to the sandalmaker's and Kenshin glanced sharply around, only to find that a child had released his mother's hand and reached up to set the paper lantern fastened to the overhang of a dry goods stall dancing by batting at it. The child's mother turned from surveying the row of dried salmon hanging from the roof, and stepped around a barrel of dried seaweed to scold him.

It was December, but the snows were late that year in Kyoto. The streets were damp with rainwater, not snow. It was nearly a year to the day that Tomoe had died and he'd consigned her body to the flames along with the cottage they'd lived in for so many months.

He wondered if Katsura remembered that.

The stonecutter he chose was a simple man. His work with stone had made him very literal, and he made Kenshin describe exactly what he wanted. They decided on a simple monument for Tomoe. Simple as her life hadn't been. The stonecutter told him it would take several weeks to finish. Kenshin probably could have found someone to do the work faster, but he liked the man, and trusted that he would do a good job.

Because he didn't know if he'd still be there when the monument was finished, he asked the stone cutter to place it for him in a nearby cemetery.

By the time Kenshin paid the man and set off back toward Komatsu's house, it was dark. He kept his head down and left the street of the stonecutters.

As he crossed the main thoroughfare, he heard Shunme's voice.

"Kenshin!"

Glancing up, Kenshin saw Shunme and a small group of men. He recognized one of them from the old days in Kyoto. They were fellow Choshu loyalists.

From habit, he glanced up and down the street as he crossed. A man in a flat, slightly conical straw hat ducked, turned the opposite direction and strode down the street.

"You're being watched." he muttered at Shunme when he came near.

"I know." Shunme's face was alive with curiosity, but his eyes were also scanning the street in a businesslike fashion. "I'm taking these guys to a safer place. The Shinsengumi police squads have been after them for days. Just being from Choshu is a death sentence in Kyoto now. What are you doing here?"

From the corner of his eye, Kenshin saw the man in the straw hat stop someone further down the street, slip him a note and push him away. The man with the note took off running.

"Come on." Kenshin ignored Shunme's question and brushed past him and the others to an alleyway. He ran down it quickly, hearing them follow.

This was an area of Kyoto he was familiar with. He led them up and down alleys in a serpentine pattern that was nearly impossible to trace, but the problem with Kyoto's old streets was the way they twisted back and forth, criss-crossing each other. It was at one of those crossings that he saw the man with the straw hat, talking to a member of the Shinsengumi, clearly identifiable in the distinctive sky blue coat with the triangular white sawtooth pattern on the sleeves.

Kenshin's eyes swept the area. Behind the one Shinsengumi swordsmen were more, waiting patiently for the conversation to end. As Kenshin stepped back, avoiding the crossroads, one of the Choshu loyalists stepped forward, not noticing that Kenshin was moving back. The man in the straw hat spotted the loyalist, shouted, and pointed.

"Go back the other way." Kenshin hissed, and shoved the hapless loyalist down the alley. "Shunme, take the street to the end and turn right. You'll be by the Imperial Palace. Can you find your way from there?"

Shunme nodded.

"Go."

Face set and grim, Shunme took off running after the others.

More running footsteps came from the opposite direction. Kenshin stepped out into the middle of the cobblestoned alleyway, blocking them.

"Go back."

The Shinsengumi squad paused. "Who's that?"

"Leave now, and live." An eerie calm descended on Kenshin. This was what he'd trained for. The cold, dispassionate manner of a true hitokiri came upon him. It was like shrugging one's shoulders into an old familiar coat.

One of them raised a circular paper lantern. "He's got red hair."

"Look at that scar!" said another.

"I've found him at last." This voice was younger, almost child like. A boy still in his teens like Kenshin pushed his way through the group. He had bangs, and his hair was drawn back in a ponytail, a white headband wrapped around his forehead and tied in the back. He was shorter than the others, and his face was perfectly smooth.

He drew his sword and came forward, smiling.

The boy's walk became a run. Kenshin's sword was in his hand without having to think about it. He blocked the teenager's thrust easily, allowing the sword to slide down his own blade until the tsuba stopped it. Kenshin twisted away and counter slashed.

The kid continued to thrust over and over. Kenshin jumped back and came at him with a downward stroke. His opponent got his blade up just in time, steadying it by placing the heel of his palm against his blade's muni, the flat, dull edge opposite the cutting edge, to keep from caving in under the force of Kenshin's blow.

The young Shinsengumi tried a running thrust, striking sparks from Kenshin's blade, and continued his run past the ex-battousai. After he passed Kenshin, he faltered, and coughed, his hand coming to his mouth.

When the boy turned around, Kenshin saw that he was breathing hard and his mouth was smeared with blood.

This was puzzling. So far Kenshin hadn't cut the teenager, he hadn't been thrust through the lung or sliced near his mouth. So why was he bleeding?

Kenshin paused and waited for his opponent to recover.

"Enough, Okita!" A low, commanding voice sounded from the darkness beyond the rest of the Shinsengumi squad who were standing in pools of light cast from their lanterns, transfixed by the duel in front of them.

So. His opponent's name was Okita.

A tall, thin Shinsengumi swordsman strode through the group, which parted for him automatically. His eyes were narrow, but somehow reminded Kenshin of a Wolf's. His face was narrow as well, and several long strands of hair had escaped from his ponytail and stood in front of his face, giving the impression of a caged beast, magnificently ignoring the bars of its prison.

"But master Saito!" Okita's voice cracked in protest.

Saito continued past. "It's no use. In your condition you wouldn't have the ghost of a chance against one who smells of so much blood."

Okita followed the man with his eyes, stepping back as Saito confronted Kenshin. The tall warrior dropped deliberately into a lunge-like stance, his left hand gripping his sword's hilt, his right arm out stretched along the length of his blade, as if helping to guide its tip to its target.

"Let's go." The dark voice purred, then Saito leapt forward, and it was all Kenshin could do to block and turn for a counterthrust.

Now it was Kenshin's turn to recourse to steadying his blade by holding it with the hilt and the muni edge. Saito was strong, and fast. His lefthanded thrust was difficult to counter.

At one point as Kenshin dodged a slash he heard wood splinter as Saito's blade scoured deeply through a plaster wall and the wooden shutter slats of a building lining the alley. Saito's thrust was inhumanly strong, and it took all of Kenshin's concentration to avoid it.

The fight went on and on. Kenshin lost track of time, and became a mass of instincts. Life narrowed to attack, retreat, being forced back, feet sliding along the damp cobblestones, gaining purchase and using a kick against a wall to thrust his body forward. And the swords kept dancing, downward slash as Saito's parallel thrust came, knocking the blade off course. Next came an upward parry, and his own attacks over and over until Kenshin began to realize how much time had passed.

The Choshu loyalists were long gone. The duel had become self-indulgent.

On the next running pass at each other, Kenshin kept going, dodging down an alleyway and lightening his footsteps as he schooled his legs to run faster, stealthily, like a hitokiri of the shadows should.

If the Shinsengumi attempted to run after him, he didn't hear it. Kenshin slowed his pace as he saw a crowded street up ahead at the end of the alley. He supposed Saito had come to his senses as well by then and remembered his own obligations to his teammates. 'In your condition' he'd said to Okita, the younger boy.

Of course. Okita was ill. He fought valiantly considering, Kenshin thought to himself dispassionately. He sheathed his sword, stuck his hands in his kimono sleeves, ducked his head down and walked sedately back to Komatsu's house.

No one followed.

In the common room of Komatsu's house Oshio and Hojo sat and ate the rice and fish Komatsu's staff provided for them, leaving their swords stacked against the wall with the Satsuma warriors' swords. The two young Choshu warriors had adapted quickly to living in a Satsuma household. Kurata, the Tosa swordsman sent by Ryoma to help guard Katsura, came and sat near them.

Shunme, they'd told Kenshin, was with Katsura.

Kenshin sat against the wall, sword cradled against his shoulder, and thought. Shunme was with Katsura, which meant he'd probably already told him about being found by the Shinsengumi, so Kenshin wouldn't have to. The fact that he'd been seen though, and identified by his scar and red hair meant that Kenshin wouldn't be going back to the stonecutters' street any time soon. It was just as well that he'd paid the stonecutter in full.

Oshio and Hojo finished gulping down their dinner and went to go relieve Shunme. Kurata smiled and announced that he was off to bed, since his duty period was now over.

"So," A short time later Shunme dropped onto the tatami mat next to Kenshin. "What happened with the Shinsengumi after I left?"

"We fought. I survived."

"I can see that," Shunme said reproachfully. "I meant how was it, fighting the dreaded Shinsengumi?"

"A fight, like any other." But not like before. Before Kenshin murdered without mercy, the moment there'd been any sign of weakness. Okita was a trained swordsman and was as old as Kenshin, or close enough, so he hadn't deserved mercy because of his age. Yet when he'd seen the blood on Okita's mouth, saw the way he was breathing hard, he hadn't attacked while the boy was off guard.

He'd had a chance to, a window of opportunity even before the older man, Saito, had shown up to continue the fight in Okita's stead. Kenshin didn't know how to feel about that supposed moment of weakness or mercy.

Shunme threw himself on his back. "You're absolutely no fun to talk to, Kenshin. Why can't you be more descriptive like me? I bet even the Shinsengumi tell better stories than you."

He rolled over onto his side. "You know, those big blue coats of theirs? They remind me of cabbages the way they bell out all round. And those white edges are like the curly leaf tips on a cabbage too. Fighting them is like fighting a field of cabbages!" Shunme gave his trademark laugh, evidently amusing himself greatly, and causing Oshio, Hojo, and Kurata to glance over and smile indulgently before going back to their conversation.

Kenshin shot Shunme an irritated look. "Why do you laugh so much?"

"To make up for you not laughing at all!" Shunme smiled up at him, his smile gradually fading as Kenshin stared down at him seriously.

Eventually the smile disappeared completely, and was replaced by a grave look.

"Honestly, I make myself laugh, so I won't forget how to seem." he told Kenshin.

"How to seem?" asked Kenshin quietly.

Shunme nodded. "So I'll seem normal to my family when I go home to them after all this is over and Choshu is safe again. If I forget how to laugh, how will I be able to make my daughter laugh, or cheer up my wife?"

He lay back down on the mat and closed his eyes. "I wasn't at the Forbidden Gates Battle when Nakamura's brother was killed by the Satsuma clan, but I fought alongside Takasugi when he took back Choshu from the conservatives. He only had eighty men with him during the first attack. I was one of those eighty. I saw things, did things to win that I'd only heard about. I found I could be more savage than I ever thought possible." His voice grew soft with remembered horror.

"Kurata lived through it too. He doesn't talk about it, but we both fought like animals to survive. When I go home, that savage part of me has to go away. The only thing I've found that helps, is remembering how to laugh. Laughing helps me to seem."

Shunme's voice softened still more and became reflective, as though he were talking to himself rather than to Kenshin. "I have to seem normal again."

He opened his eyes and looked at Kenshin. "What happened with the fight tonight?"

Kenshin stared back. How to explain his momentary lapse? He hadn't even killed anyone this time around.

"Mercy." He told Shunme at last, not caring how it sounded. "Mercy."

Breaking the gaze, he got to his feet, grabbed his sheathed sword in his hand, and left the room.

'How to seem.' He repeated to himself, closing the door partition behind him. 'Shunme knows how to seem.'

And then, from out of the blue, as he continued down the hall, a realization hit.

'I envy him.'

END CHAPTER TWELVE

Note to Reviewers:

Kie-san – Yes! I made someone think! I'm so happy!

Lilmatchgirl007 – As you guessed, Kenshin did get recognized in this chapter and it led to more fighting, though if you've seen 'Trust and Betrayal' I'm sure you recognized the scene already.

Wyrd – Kenshin is definitely still working on his children skills. I'm glad you like Shunme, he's a lot of fun to write for and Lord knows, Kenshin needs a little levity in his life. Oh, and to answer your question so you won't have to re-read everything, Chojiro was the bean-jam maker's son who received a sword from the Lord of Choshu for helping to broker the warship deal. This actually happened, I didn't make it up! (Unfortunately, the part about Chojiro's Kamayama company colleagues being jealous happened as well)

Nekotsuki – I'm so sorry fan fiction dot net is being weird (my review history is STILL disabled – grr!). I don't know about leading up to something nasty, but there's a sword fight this time around, does that count? I'm glad you're OK and the accident wasn't too serious – though bruises and stiff/soreness are anything but mundane!

T.T – Welcome, and thanks for the encouragement.

Lolo-popoki – I share your sympathy for the innkeeper's wife, Mariko. Can you imagine caring for an innful of guys without an electric dishwasher, washer/dryer, or even a vacuum? As for the emotional task, it's been a year since Tomoe's death so I think ordering the gravemarker would simply be a bittersweet completion of what Kenshin sees as a last duty to the woman he loved. It's not as bad as if he'd done it within days of her death, as families do nowadays when someone they love dies and they have to make all the arrangements within days.

BakaBokken – Yes! Another history major! Are you planning to go on and get the fifth year teaching credential? If you want a high paying job and lots of prestige after college, I wouldn't advise teaching! Please don't be embarrassed about being a "history geek" in school. It's great that you're interested in the details, since most students think history is boring and only do the bare minimum to get by. And I like your stories! Don't get stage fright, just keep writing. Having been through it myself, I know how important it is to have a creative outlet in college that has nothing to do with taking copious notes or writing research papers to please persnickety professors. (I sewed historical costumes in college– how much geekier can you get!) So please, do keep writing – it's a great outlet for stress and it'll make your fans happy!

Sailor-Earth13 – As you've seen, Kenshin does get spotted this time, and by everyone's favorite wolf-eyed Shinsengumi!

xZig-zagx – you're welcome for the review, and there's some emotional trouble ahead, but probably not what you were expecting – no crying over the grave marker (besides it still needs to get carved)

Lady Rhiyana – Thanks for the compliment! I'll be sticking in as many historical details as I can. I'm glad Nakamura is keeping you off balance. He's definitely my most conflicted character. Even jerks have their inner sorrows and problems, and Nakamura's got a lot to deal with. Still, Kenshin is developing a sense of compassion by having him around. It's not easy to like people who seem determined to be unlikable.

Haku baiku – That grave marker always bothered me too! The anime never really explained how it got there, so I decided to give an explanation. If Katsura was in Kyoto for the meeting with Saigo, Kenshin would have gone along and had time to do it then. I know what you mean about the whole lie/lay thing. My personal pet peeve is when people don't know the difference between "loose" and "lose". I've been known to laugh hysterically whenever I run across that particular error!


	13. Chapter thirteen

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or plot.

Notes to reviewers are located at the end of the chapter

This is a short one, but the next chapter will be posted soon.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Without a field to practice in, Kenshin had to make due with the garden in the back of Komatsu's villa. The wisteria vines, bare now in winter, marched along the side of the property by a bamboo fence. Kenshin skirted a pond bisected by stone steps leading to a bridge, a graceful wooden half circle that seemed a continuation of the steps which rose about an inch above the level of the water like circular gray lily pads. By the pond's eastern edge he found a level area near a stand of pines, with only a few stone pagoda shaped lanterns to get in his way.

As always, he started in the pre-dawn gloom. It was a challenge, to run through the various cuts, thrusts, and parries without slicing so much as a needle off one of the pines. To do so would be to insult Komatsu's hospitality.

When he finished, he retreated to the porch under the eaves and reached for the dipper in the bucket of water the servants obligingly left out for the Choshu men to use.

Footsteps sounded on the ceiling, the floor of a second story balcony, above his head.

"Good, Kenshin's done practicing, so we can talk." Shunme's voice came faintly from above.

Kenshin froze.

"Do you not trust him?" It was Ike Kurata's voice now.

Shunme laughed softly. "You know me, Kurata, I don't trust anyone. How can I?"

Kurata muttered something about Shunme's job.

The footsteps drew closer to the balcony's railing.

"When are you off?" asked Shunme.

"At daybreak." Kurata sighed. "Ryoma should be arriving today. I want to be at Satsuma Headquarters to meet him, and let him know how things have been going."

"You mean how they HAVEN'T been going, don't you? Katsura's about ready to leave."

"He mustn't" Kurata's voice became sharp. "Not after everything Ryoma's done."

"You know where my loyalties lie." Shunme said.

"And you know mine."

There was a silence.

"Ryoma is a good man." Kurata said at last. "And I'm not just saying that because he's from Tosa. He thinks ahead. He has a dream for Japan, and I want to be part of that dream. Takasugi is the best warrior I've ever seen, but after the wars are over it will be men like Ryoma who build a strong future for our country."

There was another silence. Shunme broke it. "Come on. Enough seriousness. If you must go then let's see what Komatsu's staff has for breakfast. It won't do to have you dying from hunger on the streets of Kyoto."

The footsteps retreated.

Shunme didn't trust him? Kenshin ladled water into a washing bowl and splashed it over his face.

On the other hand, why should he? Why should anyone trust anyone? In days like these, friends could turn out to be enemies. If the Tokugawa Shogun's intelligence network could subvert an innocent girl like Tomoe, they could subvert anyone.

Besides, who said Shunme was a friend? Shunme behaved the same way towards everyone, except Nakamura, whom he seemed to enjoy tormenting. He shouldn't assume anything based on Shunme's behavior.

Pouring the used water out into the garden, Kenshin returned the washing bowl to its spot next to the bucket and ladel.

His proper place was at Katsura's side. He was a bodyguard, nothing more. He'd pledged an oath to Katsura and he would fulfill it. Bringing down the Bakufu was all that mattered. He touched his sword lightly, and went inside.

o-o-o

January 20, 1866. Kenshin was stationed at the door outside Katsura's chamber. Inside, Katsura and Shunme were playing a game of 'go' on a squat wooden playing board.

Noise came from the front of the house. Kenshin stepped across the passageway and leaned over the railing. Ryoma and Kurata were on the first floor landing, accompanied by a large man Kenshin immediately recognized.

It was Miyoshi Shinzo, carrying the spear he'd favored even back during the days of Takasugi's training camp before Kenshin had been assigned to Katsura as an assassin.

He stepped back, and waited for Komatsu's servant to usher them upstairs.

Ryoma, his hair rumpled as if he'd been running his hands through it in distraction, looked worried as he, Miyoshi, and Kurata followed the manservant up the steps.

Kenshin stepped back across the passageway and knocked on the doorpost of Katsura's chamber.

"Yes?" came Katsura's voice.

"Sakamoto Ryoma is here." Kenshin informed him.

"Let him in." Katsura sounded grimly anticipatory. A scraping noise told Kenshin that the 'go' board had been set aside.

The servant, a short self-effacing man of middle age, glanced at Kenshin as he came up, hooked his finger in the hikite, a small metal basket shape set in the wooden frame of the door, and slid the door panel open. Kenshin stepped back to allow Ryoma, Miyoshi, and Kurata to enter.

The servant bowed, closed the door behind them, and left.

From behind the door panel Kenshin could hear the murmur of voices. He tried not to listen, concentrating instead on guarding the passageway, but the murmurs grew into shouts. He heard Katsura saying that he was fed up, that he was needed back in Choshu. He heard Ryoma pleading, reasoning.

The voices grew softer again, but no less impassioned. Finally, some sort of agreement seemed to be reached.

There was movement, then the door opened. A worried looking Ryoma brushed by Kenshin without seeing him. Kurata followed, with a similar expression. Only Miyoshi gave him a start of recognition and a quick, scared grin as he gripped his sword and bounded down the stairs after them.

Katsura came to the doorway, Shunme close on his heels.

"Ah, Kenshin." Katsura's voice shook with some barely repressed emotion. "Pack your things. I'm giving Saigo one more day, then whether he shows up or not, we'll be gone the day after tomorrow."

Kenshin nodded and fell in behind Shunme as Katsura went to go discuss his departure with Komatsu.

While he was talking with Komatsu, Shunme and Kenshin remained outside the door.

"You saw Miyoshi, huh?"

"Yes." Kenshin nodded.

"I bet you're wondering why he's here."

Kenshin merely looked at him. For someone who didn't trust him, Shunme seemed remarkably happy to share information.

Not noticing Kenshin's reticence, Shunme happily went on. "Takasugi sent Miyoshi with Ryoma as an extra bodyguard." Shunme laughed softly, carefully toning down his usual belly laugh so Komatsu and Katsura wouldn't hear it. "Ryoma sends Katsura an extra bodyguard, so Takasugi sends Ryoma one."

Shunme laughed again, this time mirthlessly. "And so it goes, then endless game of politics and one-upmanship." He shook his head pityingly and smiled, but the smile didn't conceal the worry in his eyes.

END CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Notes to reviewers:

Conspirator – Thanks for saying my last chapter was wonderful! Sorry this one is so short!

Supernaturalove – Welcome! I hope the end of the fight wasn't anticlimactic, and I promise, more historical detail will be coming in later chapters.

Xzig-zagx – Glad you liked the fight! And you're right, Kenshin did get a tad emotional.

Sailor-Earth13 – Yep, Kenshin is slowly becoming more human again, though he's not quite sure how to deal with it.

Lilmatchgirl007 – I'm with you, I refuse to acknowledge the existence of the OAV 'Reflections' and I too bawled my eyes out when Tomoe died at the end of 'Trust and Betrayal'. Even listening to the soundtrack can get me going again (always embarrassing, especially when driving in the car while listening with not a shred of kleenax in sight!) Let me know if your review history comes back on line – I've given up even checking mine!

Lady Rhiyana – Yep. This story is just one long explanation of how Kenshin went from battousai to rurouni and I'm trying to slip the character development in gradually. (Hence the not killing Okita when he had the chance) I can't take credit for the 'how to seem' line, as I got it from a movie called "The Madness of King George" and it really struck me that warriors re-integrating into society don't transform so much as remember how to behave normally to blend in.

Wyrd – You're welcome! I'm a history nut so I try to work as much history in as I can. Yes, Shunme does have a serious/darker side though he doesn't usually show it. Regarding your question about TsuiokuHen, oh yes, poor Kotaka Shuntaro was at the end of the rope. In actual fact, he was hanging upside down when one of the Shinsengumi was hitting him. According to one account I read, Kotaka endured several hours of beating before the Shinsengumi finally broke him by driving spikes through his feet and placing lighted candles on them so the wax dripped into the open wounds. Ick! As for the 'seeming' comment, see my response to Lady Rhiyana!

Lolo popoki – Glad you liked the chapter and the fight scene!

Haku baiku – I think you're right about duels. Daimyos actually disliked it when samurai dueled because when one of their samurai died in a duel, it meant one less man fighting on their side. As for planting the seeds for the Rurouni persona – you guessed it! It will be a LONG process but I hope to show how Kenshin Himura changed so drastically from his 'Trust and Betrayal' personality type to the lovable rurouni from 'Rurouni Kenshin'.


	14. Chapter fourteen

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X characters or plot.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Kenshin! Saigo is here!"

Kenshin looked up from his meal of rice, miso soup, and grilled sweetfish as Shunme burst into the room serving as the dining commons for the Choshu bodyguards. Oshio and Hojo looked up with identical startled expressions before bursting into excited chatter.

Ignoring them, Shunme grinned at Kenshin. "Sorry to cut your lunch break short. Saigo came early."

Leaving the food, Kenshin got up and followed Shunme into the entrance chamber of Komatsu's house, taking his place behind Katsura and their host, Komatsu, with a sense of wonder.

Saigo and his entourage were just entering. The large man's big dark eyes took in the room at a swift glance, then focused on Katsura. The smaller man bowed gravely as Saigo, flanked by five other Satsuma men, walked up.

"That's Okubo" Shunme confided in a whisper, inclining his head at a tall samurai with piercing eyes who stood next to Saigo. "The younger one's Yoshii, Saigo's secretary. I don't know who the other three are."

Automatically, Kenshin had sized them up as opponents as they entered the room. The three samurai were hardened warriors. Satsuma had a reputation for breeding strong, if uncouth, fighters. All three had killers' eyes. The youngest of the three, incongruously, was carrying what could only be a lute, a three stringed, long necked guitar, wrapped in a cloth.

Ryoma appeared and made his way around the Satsuma samurai in their formal kimonos, hakama, and haori jackets. In contrast, Ryoma looked as if he'd slept in his hakama and kimono, and his hair was as unruly as the last time Kenshin had seen him.

"Good! We're all here!" Ryoma observed, rubbing his hands together and not seeming to notice the stiff tension between Saigo and Katsura.

"Perhaps we should retire to a more comfortable room?" suggested Komatsu.

"Patrol the garden." Shunme whispered to Kenshin as Ryoma and the Satsuma men came past. "No one from the outside must know of this meeting."

Komatsu led the men to a hallway that branched off into a succession of rooms. Noticing the youngest Satsuma samurai's lute, he commented, "Ah good, a little music played in the next room is the perfect thing to discourage eavesdroppers."

With a quick nod at Shunme, who turned to follow Katsura into the meeting chamber, Kenshin slipped out to the back garden and began his patrol.

Soon the strains of the lute came out across the small pond. It was a Satsuma folk song. Kenshin had been near Satsuma Headquarters often enough when he'd been in Kyoto before to recognize it. It was "A Cherry Blossom Keepsake," a song about brotherhood.

The garden was empty. No one attempted to crawl over the back fence. The barren wisteria vines to his right and the pine trees beyond the pond were still, without so much as a breath of wind to disturb the cold winter air surrounding them. Guard duty was like that most of the time, being alert to the possibility of danger, rather than facing any actual danger.

The music rose and fell, growing louder or softer depending on what part of the garden Kenshin was in at the time. He wondered how the meeting was going. He wondered too about Komatsu's comment about eavesdroppers. Did the man not even trust his own staff of servants?

That led his thoughts to Shunme's comment about not trusting anyone. Kenshin tried to convince himself that it didn't matter, yet he kept going back to it, like an itching wound that refused to heal. Was this why Kenshin was often relegated to patrolling the outside when meetings were going on inside? Did Shunme really think him untrustworthy?

Iizuka, the man Katsura and Kenshin trusted, had proved untrustworthy in the end, betraying Kenshin, and betraying Tomoe to him. Would all his supposed friendships turn out to be tainted by suspicion and mistrust? Kenshin gazed through the dark green branches of the pine trees and out over the back fence of Komatsu's property.

The garden was still empty. He was alone.

The lute music stopped, so Kenshin edged back to the house. A soft murmur of voices came to him. Ryoma's distinctive voice, exultant, boomed over the others.

Without needing Shunme to tell him, Kenshin knew. Choshu and Satsuma were now allies.

Nakamura, in Shunme's words, would be ready to spit.

o-o-o

Ike Kurata came to see them off the next day.

He and Shunme spoke quietly together for a while. Kenshin moved to the other side of the room to watch Oshio and Hojo secure their small bundles of belongings. Oshio was having trouble with the knots. Remembering the last time Shunme and Kurata spoke together, the last thing Kenshin wanted to do was overhear their conversation.

"Kenshin."

He'd sensed Kurata coming up behind him, and reluctantly turned at the sound of his own name. "Yes?"

Kurata smiled. "I have a message to you from Ryoma."

"Ryoma?"

"Yes. He wanted you to know that his job offer is still open. If you ever get tired of bodyguarding with this guy." Kurata jerked his head toward Shunme, who was now sitting on the floor teaching Oshio how to tie a perfect knot. "Come and see him."

"Thank you, no." Without having to think about it, Kenshin knew that he would never work with Kurata.

Kurata looked a bit startled at how quickly Kenshin said no.

"I'm committed to defeating the Bakufu." Kenshin told him. "There is no room for anything else." Better that than the true reason. Kenshin couldn't trust the man. 'You know where my loyalties lie' he'd told Shunme, and with his answer Shunme made it clear that their loyalties were in different places.

Whether Shunme trusted Kenshin or not, they were both committed to serving Katsura and toppling the Bakufu. Who really knew what Kurata was loyal to?

Kurata nodded. "I understand, but promise me you'll think about it. With this new alliance, the shogunate is bound to fall. We can talk again in Shimonoseki when I get back, OK?"

"Yes." Kenshin outwardly agreed.

A hint of puzzlement in his eyes, Kurata smiled one last time and took his leave.

They left at dusk, walking through the streets toward the riverboat landing. Komatsu offered to send men with them for extra protection, but Katsura refused. It wouldn't do to have Choshu and Satsuma men, speaking in their distinctive accents, seen walking together in friendship while their newly formed alliance was supposed to be a secret.

So they walked alone with Kenshin, his head concealed by a circular straw hat, taking the lead. They walked in silence, even Shunme, and when Kenshin held up his hand and signaled, they all melted back into the shadows under the eaves of a fabric warehouse.

Two Shinsengumi, in their blue and white coats, walked up to a noodle stand across the street. The vender nearly fell over himself getting their bowls quickly. One of them, an officer by his manner, with unbound hair slicked back and falling to his shoulders, wearing European style eyeglasses, tossed a few coins on the counter, and began eating.

The other man took his own bowl and moved to lean against a barrel at the corner of the stall.

The short alleyway where Kenshin and the others had taken shelter was a dead end. Their only way out was the street ahead where the Shinsengumi were. If they missed the riverboat, they'd have to wait at the landing, dangerously exposed.

The street remained empty save for the two Shinsengumi and the vendor. Kenshin flicked his sword's tsuba, loosening it from the sheath.

"Not yet."

Kenshin looked up as Katsura grabbed his arm, stopping him. Katsura was gazing intently across the street.

Glancing back, Kenshin too began to listen to what the two Shinsengumi were saying.

"Come on Kanryu." chided the Shinsengumi with his hair pulled back in a ponytail. "Kyoto may not be Edo, but we're pulling our own weight. The streets are filled with samurai come to join the shogun's army and destroy Choshu."

Kanryu swallowed the noodles he'd been shoveling into his mouth with chopsticks. "But what sort of samurai?" Kanryu sneered. "All they do is whine about wanting to go home, and not wanting to fight. What will the shogun think if all we send are malingerers?"

"I'm sure you exaggerate." said the other stiffly, obviously not liking Kanryu's tone.

"Oh I exaggerate, do I? Do you know why half the samurai don't show up for morning drills? I'll tell you. They are out buying souvenirs for their wives and families. They are not taking this war seriously." Kanryu glared and continued to eat.

"That must be making the Kyoto venders happy." observed the other glibly.

"Oh fine. The venders will be happy and the shogunate will be doomed. I suppose that's your idea of a great success?" Kanryu huffed in irritation. "Don't you realize that if we lose to Choshu the whole world will think the shogun is weak?"

The other Shinsengumi stared, unimpressed.

Kanryu slammed his now empty bowl down on the noodle vender's counter, and waved his arms. "Do you never think about consequences? If this army is not committed to completely destroying Choshu, it won't."

"We outnumber them." the other man said smugly.

"Numbers don't matter if morale isn't there, don't you understand?" He grabbed the bowl out of his companion's hand and stuck it on the counter top. "That is why I'm the strategist and you're just a squad member. Now come on. Kondo is waiting for us."

Kanryu grabbed the other by the sleeve and pulled him away from the noodle stall. "But I wasn't finished with my noodles yet." the man protested as he went.

"Tough. Besides, they were MY noodles since I paid for them."

The immediate threat gone, Kenshin glanced back up at Katsura. His leader was smiling wolfishly. He stepped boldly into the street.

"Let's go." he said, and Kenshin hurried to get ahead of him to take the lead.

He had to keep walking fast to keep ahead of the Choshu loyalist, and as he did he heard Katsura humming, very faintly, the tune to "A Cherry Blossom Keepsake."

o-o-o

They had only one more block to go to get to the Takasegawa canal, the same canal they'd used to travel through Kyoto to reach Satsuma headquarters when they'd first arrived in the city.

In front of them and slightly to the right past the canal rose Mount Higashi, blanketed in snow. Lower down the roofs of temples clustered at the foot of the Higashiyama mountain range, nestled in among trees dusted with snow as well.

They made it to the landing by the Shijo Bridge without further incident, and stepped off the stone landing into the flat-bottomed riverboat waiting for them.

Katsura immediately stepped under the covered area in the center of the boat and sat beneath its pitched roof. Shunme followed and pulled down the canvas window coverings. Oshio and Hojo walked awkwardly, crouching, to the back of the boat to sit by the boatman, who held the long wooden handle of the rudder that protruded off the squared edge of the stern.

Kenshin and Shunme made their way forward and sat with their backs against the front wall of the covered cabin, if one could call the small hut-like structure amidships a cabin.

Without speaking, the boatman's mate pushed off and began poling the vessel down stream.

It was quiet on the water. Over the tiled roofs of the houses and buildings lining the path by the canal, the Higashiyama range rose silently, its cap of white glistening in the early evening gloom.

From time to time patches of noise and bustle from the streets leading onto the canal path came to them across the water. At times the boat slid under a bridge, which always caused Kenshin to tense up, especially when there were people standing near the railings or walking across overhead. They were all simply workmen on their way home, or couples traveling to friends' homes, their breath visible as they spoke of things they'd seen or done or concerns about their lives. It was all very normal and calm. Until the last bridge.

Kenshin didn't need Shunme's whispered curse to alert him. He'd already seen two lone Shinsengumi leaning against the bridge's railing and glaring down at a boatman with several large baskets of fish smelling up his small barge.

They seemed to be questioning the man, who was leaning hard on his pole, stuck on the bottom of the canal, to keep the boat from passing under the bridge as he answered them.

Kenshin came forward on one knee and flicked his tsuba to loosen his sword from the sheath, but paused when Shunme's hand came down on his arm.

Surprised, he glanced at the older samurai, who shook his head deliberately, then jerked his chin toward the covered hut in the middle of the boat.

Getting the message, Kenshin pushed his tsuba back down against the mouth of the sheath, and immediately crawled back around to the opening in the side of the hut-like structure and went inside.

As he passed the threshold, he heard Shunme whisper to Oshio and Hojo, "Now boys, like we planned."

Katsura glanced at Kenshin sharply as he sat across from him in the enclosed space.

"There's shinsengumi on the bridge ahead." Kenshin whispered softly.

"Ah." Katsura's eyes glittered in the darkened hut, and Kenshin could sense rather than see the older man gather himself in preparation for the fight, should it come, then deliberately relax his muscles when he remembered that he had others to protect him now.

Unexpectedly, incongruously, the sound of a cork being pulled came, and the sweet, pungent scent of sake wafted through the hut.

Kenshin's eyes narrowed.

Then came Shunme's voice, in an overly thick assumed Satsuma accent, but definitely Shunme, warbling the words to "A Cherry Blossom Keepsake" at the top of his lungs. The song grew louder as he made his way clumsily past the hut to fall in a noisy clatter at the stern end of the boat.

That was when Hojo and Oshio's voice joined in, also in thick Satsuma accents. Coming to the end of the first verse, they next switched to a really bawdy Satsuma drinking song, the words of which made Kenshin glad for the darkness, so that Katsura wouldn't see him blush.

A shout, interrupted by another voice, came from almost directly overhead.

"Leave them alone, it's just a bunch of those Satsuma samurai out getting drunk." Contempt obvious in the man's tone, the Shinsengumi soldier went on derisively. "If we're lucky maybe they'll fall into the canal and sober up."

Shunme, Oshio, and Hojo, who had apparently been talking to enough Satsuma men during their stay at Komatsu's house to fake a passable Satsuma accent, continued their song to its bitter end as the boat made its way down the canal, away from the bridge.

Once he knew they were well past, Kenshin stopped peering back up at the roof of the hut as if he could still see the bridge through its wooden planks, and turned back to Katsura.

He was shaking. Kenshin was nonplussed for a moment until he realized Katsura was laughing. He stared in astonishment.

Shunme lifted a shade and poked his head in under it. "Everything alright in here?"

"Yes," said Katsura in a slightly strangled tone. "Good work, Shunme."

A flash of white teeth revealed Shunme's grin as he pulled back and dropped the shade.

"Will you excuse me, Katsura?" asked Kenshin politely.

Katsura nodded and Kenshin crawled out of the hut and back to his place against the structure's wall in the prow end of the boat.

As he settled his shoulder blades against the wall, he glanced over at Shunme who was already seated and staring at the black waters of the canal in front of them. Sensing Kenshin's look, Shunme turned his head and smiled.

"When did you…?" began Kenshin.

"Come up with this plan?" finished Shunme. "Back at Komatsu's house. I would have told you about it too, but somehow I just couldn't picture you singing. You don't sing, do you?"

"No." Singing hadn't been something Master Hiko Seijiro encouraged during his years of training.

"Didn't think so." said Shunme, settling his back more comfortably against the wall. "I just couldn't imagine you belting out a song in a Satsuma accent, so I decided not to even ask. Though I think that with my coaching, Oshio and Hojo did a pretty good job. Maybe we can even go on the stage as performers after the war is over." Shunme gave a snort of laughter, swallowing his belly laugh so he wouldn't make noise. "What do you think of my workmanship?" he asked, nodding back toward the stern end of the ship.

"They seemed…believable as Satsuma." answered Kenshin, and wrenched his eyes away from Shunme to stare out at the water.

They seemed. The words repeated themselves in Kenshin's mind. Oshio and Hojo had seemed something other than they were. Kenshin himself couldn't do that, and Shunme knew he couldn't, which must be why he hadn't asked him.

Shunme was staring at him. Kenshin could feel it, and kept his eyes forward and his face an emotionless mask.

When the older samurai's words came softly, it was a surprise. "You're too honest for such foolishness." Shunme told him. "That's the reason why I didn't tell you about the plan. Besides, I hoped we wouldn't have to sing. My wife tells me I can't carry a tune with both hands."

Kenshin looked back at Shunme questioningly, but the samurai merely smiled and crawled back to join Katsura in the covered hut.

The boat moved on quietly down the canal toward Osaka where another boat waited to take them home to Choshu and the coming battle.

END CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Note to reviewers:

Lolo popoki – You'll find out later why Shunme doesn't trust people much, and you're right, Kenshin does like him, though now he's going to be rather standoffish towards him.

BakaBokken – Glad you're liking Shunme. He's a fun one to write about.

Xzig-zagx – Thank you for the lovely compliment, I'll continue to try to keep everyone in character.

Lilmatchgirl007 – Yes, Kenshin is definitely a loner, poor lamb! And now he feels even more alienated – don't you just hate those prickly teenaged years? I'm afraid there won't be any fights this chapter or the next, (pesky character development time in the story) but the one after that will have PLENTY I promise!


	15. Chapter fifteen

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or plot.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

It was February, 1866. Kenshin was glad to be back in Choshu. Kyoto had been disturbing in many ways. In Choshu he could concentrate on being a bodyguard and nothing else.

The innkeeper and his wife welcomed them back, despite the fact that their re-addition to the household increased their workload again.

One afternoon as Kenshin sat on the porch, sheathed sword across his knees, watching Tama and Sota play in the courtyard, a young girl came to the gate. She opened it hesitantly and stood on the threshold.

Tama immediately marched over. "Welcome to our Ryoken." She said, bowing smartly, very much the self-important innkeeper.

"Oh! Thank you very much." The older girl bowed back distractedly, her eyes darting around the courtyard as she stood up straight. "Um. Is Mr. Nakamura here?"

Kenshin rose to his feet at the sound of the girl's voice, and took a closer look at her. She was wearing a dark blue kimono with small white flowers printed on it. It was the maidservant he'd first seen with Nakamura.

"Why?" Tama asked.

"I'm sorry. I should have said before. I have a message for him."

"Well, he hasn't come in yet." Tama stared at the older girl challengingly.

"I'm sorry." The maidservant said again, sounding near tears.

"She can wait for him here." Kenshin called out, surprising himself. He sat back down on the floorboards, setting his sword down at his side.

Tama led the girl over and watched critically as she climbed the steps and sat down by Kenshin. At this point Sota, who'd fallen flat on his face, began to wail, and Tama reluctantly left to tend to him, his wails growing fainter as she led him inside.

The maidservant stared at the gate as if doing so could make Nakamura appear. She was valiantly fighting back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

Not really knowing what else to do, Kenshin decided to speak. "What's your name?"

The little girl glanced at him and sniffed. "Midori, sir." She stared at him for a while then asked, "What's your name?"

"Himura, Kenshin Himura."

She stared at him a while longer. Her brow crinkled. "Have we met before?"

So she didn't recognize him from the time he'd carried the water for her back to the house of Nakamura's concubine. Yet something about him was bothering her. "No, I saw you on the docks when you delivered a message to Nakamura."

"Oh. That must be it." She said softly. "I remember. I had to travel so far to reach Mr. Nakamura. My mistress, Tamako, was sick. She's sick again, and I must let Mr. Nakamura know."

"Mmm." Kenshin replied noncommittally. She didn't say anything about the nature of their relationship, and he didn't want to say anything that would reveal that he already knew it.

The girl pulled on the hair by her ears, absentmindedly tugging strands out of the low ponytail at the back of her neck. "I don't know what I'm going to do if he doesn't come soon." She sounded about to cry again.

Kenshin stood, and looked over the gate. It was as he thought, the mutter of voices coming along the street belonged to Nakamura and his sidekick, Takahata. He could see the tops of their heads over the fence.

"He's coming." he told the girl, nodding at the gate.

She sprang to her feet. "Oh thank you! Everyone here is so nice in this city! Thank you for talking to me and keeping me company." She shot him a smile and ran down the steps.

By the time Nakamura reached the gate, she was there to greet him. He took the note she pulled from her kimono, but didn't bother to read it, bending slightly to listen to what she had to say.

Nakamura swore, and gestured to the girl to follow as he and Takahata turned and went back down the street the way they'd come.

Alone now, the courtyard deserted, Kenshin lifted his gaze above the gated fence separating the courtyard from the street. Across the city, set against the maple and cherry trees which studded mountains, the spire of Rurikoji Temple was visible.

Kenshin never visited. Temples were no place for one who, as that Shinsengumi captain Saito had put it, 'smelled of so much blood'.

The blood would keep flowing. As months passed, stories filtered into Choshu of the preparations the Bakufu forces were making for war.

A short time later more noise came from outside the gate. It was Katsura, walking quickly. With him were Shunme, and Oshio and Hojo who always seemed to get guard duty together.

They entered through the gate. It was rare for Katsura to visit the inn where his bodyguards were staying. Kenshin automatically went down the steps to greet them.

"Kenshin." Katsura nodded acknowledgement, then went on. "Is Nakamura here?"

"No, he just left."

Katsura frowned. "I need him."

"I'll find him." said Shunme, his face unusually grim.

"I'll go. I saw the direction he took." Kenshin offered.

If Shunme found out that Nakamura was visiting a concubine, especially one that he'd paid to free from a brothel, there'd be no end to the teasing. Having decided to keep Nakamura's secret, Kenshin found he was protective of it.

"Go." Katsura agreed.

Slipping his sword through the wrapped obi at his waist, Kenshin took off running. He retraced the route he'd taken when he'd followed Nakamura before.

As he reached the street where Tamako the concubine lived, he stopped. There was a stranger standing with Nakamura and Takahata outside Tamako's house. Further up the road he saw the low ponytail and blue kimono of Midori, disappearing around the corner with a bucket.

Kenshin hung back, his keen ears picking up phrases from the stranger as he lectured Nakamura and Takahata. "Must rest…no more walking….or around town….matter of time now…."

Nakamura turned abruptly and went inside. The stranger, obviously a doctor, handed Takahata a note, nodded, and left, walking swiftly toward Kenshin who ducked around the corner as he went by. As soon as the doctor was gone, he stole back to the corner to observe Tamako's house.

Takahata's small figure was moving away down the opposite side of the street toward the market district. Moving quietly, Kenshin went to the house. The door panel was still ajar. He moved into the front room. Apart from the sunken fire pit and cooking pot in the center of the floor and the bedding rolled up along the wall, there were few furnishings. He crossed by the smoldering cookfire, and stopped at the shoji screen partition leading to the next room. Nakamura's voice came through it clearly.

"Tamako! Haven't I told you, you must take better care of yourself? Why did you think you were well enough to go out this morning? Why?" Nakamura scolded.

"Please forgive me, I felt better this morning. I wanted to go to the market one last time." Tamako's voice was low and gentle, but faint, as if speaking was an effort.

Harsh sobs sounded. Nakamura was crying.

Kenshin took a step back in surprise.

"Oh my love," sighed Tamako's voice. "Hush, hush, please don't cry." she admonished gently, like a mother consoling a child.

It was wrong to be here.

Kenshin took another step back and kept going until he was out of the house completely and back in the street. No matter how badly Katsura wanted to talk to Nakamura, there was no way he was going to disturb the samurai at a time like this.

He pivoted and ran to the market district instead. It took several minutes, but he found Takahata at an herb seller's stall.

"Takahata."

The little man jumped slightly when Kenshin came alongside him. He folded the note the doctor had given him and stuffed it in his kimono sleeve. Kenshin pretended not to notice.

"Katsura is looking for Nakamura. Have you seen him?"

"Um, no. Not lately, but I could probably find him." Takahata lied automatically, then remembering whom he was speaking to, bristled. "You can leave now." He told Kenshin coldly.

Nodding, Kenshin went back to the inn.

An extremely flustered looking innkeeper was serving Katsura and Shunme tea as Kenshin came up. Oshio and Hojo sat by the window at the other side of the room, going back to their conversation as soon as they recognized Kenshin.

"Did you find him?" asked Shunme.

"Takahata is bringing him."

"Join us, Kenshin." Said Katsura. The innkeeper ran to get more tea. Katsura, Shunme, and Kenshin drank in silence, the only sound in the room the rise and fall of Oshio and Hojo's voices, as they talked about friends and family back in their home village.

A short time later Nakamura and Takahata walked in the door. Nakamura looked as if he'd been kicked in the stomach. Apart from a slight redness around his eyes, all signs of tears were gone, but his expression was bleak.

Katsura took one look at him, got to his feet, and pulled him into a corner where they held a quiet conversation. Watching the way Katsura asked questions and Nakamura answered, Kenshin suspected that Katsura was asking what was wrong, and that Nakamura, judging by the length of his answers and the expression on his face, was telling him the truth.

So. Katsura knew about Nakamura's concubine. He glanced at Shunme, to see if the older man was watching the conversation and coming to his own conclusions, but Shunme was staring out the door where Takahata had decided to sit and use the light from outside to glance again at the doctor's note.

Feeling Kenshin's gaze on him, Shunme looked at him and said, "There's news of Ryoma."

Kenshin waited and Shunme went on. "He was attacked at the Teradaya Inn in Fushimi."

"Is he dead?"

Shunme's mouth quirked. "That's you all over Kenshin, straight to the heart of things." He laughed softly. "No. Just wounded. His hands were slashed up pretty bad, and he's recovering at the Satsuma estate nearby. The way he got away was incredible. He and Miyoshi were completely outnumbered." Shunme went into story-telling mode, bright eyed and descriptive. "The Fushima police squads surrounded the inn and if Ryoma's girl, Oryo, hadn't heard them sneaking in…"

Steps sounded on the porch outside. Takahata quickly scooted out of the way to allow the newcomer to enter.

"Katsura! I've news." Came the low, harsh voice.

It was Takasugi.

END CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A/N Yes, I know, I'm evil for interrupting the story of what happened at Teradaya Inn. Kenshin isn't going to hear the end of the story any time soon because events in chapter 16 are about to take him away from Yamaguchi Castletown. If you want to know the end of the story, email me – my email address is on my profile, or wait until the very end of this story, as I'll probably mention it there.

Note to Reviewers:

BakaBokken – Rushing straight to the action isn't so bad, I've read lots of great stories that did just that – like your "A Strong Will" which I'm working my way through and enjoying a lot! The real reason this one is building so slowly is just because I'm trying to remain true to the style from the OAV.

Lolo popoki – Sorry to hear that you were sick! Good luck on the next chapter – it's hard to write when you're feeling under the weather.

Wyrd – Argh! Those pesky apostrophes! Somehow spellcheck/grammarcheck didn't notice the 'have'nt' error since the letters were in all caps in chapter 13. I'll try to figure out how to fix it (can you 'quick edit' a chapter once it's been posted?!?) As for Shunme's comment about being able to talk now that Kenshin was done practicing, I wanted it to seem like Shunme glanced over the second story balcony, didn't see Kenshin, and assumed it was safe to talk. He wasn't supposed to know that Kenshin was directly below him under the balcony. Sorry if it sounded like he was outside the window where Shunme and Kurata were talking! So you're learning Japanese? I'm impressed! I'd read that Japan has several very distinct accents and that they use different words for the same thing as well. I've got a book at home by an Italian who visited Japan right after World War II and he wrote that the women used the language differently from the men also – different choices in verb forms etc. Please do let me know if I mess up whenever I throw in Japanese term – though I try to avoid that as much as possible, since the only Japanese word I know are Konnichiwa, Sayonara, and whatever else I've picked up from watching anime.

Lilmatchgirl007 – Yes, indeed the thought of Kenshin blushing is totally adorable - teen angst and all.

Nekotsuki – Glad you liked the last chapter and the wary dance Kenshin is doing around Shunme. Poor guy! He really doesn't know what to make of him. Of course this chapter is more about Nakamura than Shunme. Human relationships can be so confusing for Kenshin!

Xzig-zagx – Actually the boat part was an afterthought because the chapter was just so short I felt I needed to fill in a few gaps. Kenshin does sing once in the Rurouni Kenshin series. It's the episode where the Kenshingumi help out a human cannonball girl circus performer, however Kenshin is no longer hitokiri battousai so it's not quite as incongruous as it sounds.

Sailor-Earth13 – Yep, the realization that Shunme doesn't trust him has really thrown Kenshin for a loop. I worry sometimes that the change in Kenshin is a little TOO subtle in this story, but I don't know any other way to do it without making it abrupt and therefore unbelievable.

Conspirator – I know what you mean, the Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin could and does belt out a tune if the occasion requires it, but the Kenshin from 'Samurai X Trust and Betrayal'?!?! The idea fairly boggles the mind!


	16. Chapter sixteen

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or plot

A/N: I will be posting chapters sixteen and seventeen together since seventeen is so short!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

All conversation in the inn's main room stopped as Takasugi entered.

His face was pale with the faintly yellowish tone of illness. His hair was drawn back carelessly from his pitted cheeks, a souvenir from a bout with smallpox. His face was a thin oval, with narrow, wide-set eyes under dark eyebrows. His Haori jacket, tied in front over a grey kimono, hung loosely from his thin shoulders.

All in all, Takasugi wasn't an impressive specimen physically, until you looked in his eyes. They seemed to burn with barely repressed energy. His strength of will made up for his seeming frailty. He'd been like that since Kenshin met him. Takasugi was the man who'd allowed him to join the Ishin Shishi, to train with the other Choshu Loyalists to bring down the corrupt Tokugawa Shogunate.

"The bandit we captured near Iwakuni talked." Takasugi's words were like a pebble dropped in a pond. Takahata and Nakamura immediately shot a glance at each other. Katsura's face tightened. Oshio and Hojo glanced at each other open-mouthed, not sure why that was important, but sensing that it was.

Kenshin saw Shunme's eyes go flat, expressionless, the story he'd been telling Kenshin completely forgotten.

Leaving his conversation with Nakamura, Katsura walked forward. "What did he say?"

Takasugi came further into the inn, two soldiers flanking him. "It's as we suspected. The bandits are targeting only villages and bailiffs who grew the rice sent to our merchants for Satsuma. They're terrorizing the private rice farmers so no one will sell to our merchants."

"How could they know…?" Katsura began, only to be cut short by Takasugi's mirthless laugh.

"That's what we need to find out. Where's your samurai from Iwakuni?"

Katsura glanced back at Nakamura. "I can't lend him to you. He's needed here."

Takasugi's already narrow eyes narrowed still further. "I need someone familiar with Iwakuni area to go after the head bandit. Someone told him which farmers to target. We need to find out who."

"I'll go."

All eyes shifted to Takahata, who'd risen to his feet and was now looking nervous, yet determined. "I'm from Iwakuni area too."

"That's the only reason Nakamura got him this job." Shunme muttered softly to Kenshin. "Takahata's family is a lower ranking samurai family than Nakamura's. He's the perfect flunky for him."

Flunky or not, Takahata was taking Nakamura's place, relieving him from having to leave Tamako while she was so ill. Kenshin had to admire that.

Nakamura remained silent in his corner.

Takasugi stepped back, to look at Takahata. "Fine," he affirmed. "But I'd like to take Kenshin too."

Katsura opened his mouth, then shut it and nodded. "Until the problem is settled." He agreed.

Takasugi stared at Kenshin. "I'll send one of my squads with them, not that they'll need it."

Kenshin saw approval in Takasugi's eyes, but a question as well. This was a test. Takasugi had given Kenshin's services to Katsura as an assassin. Now he was a simple bodyguard. Takasugi wanted to know if he could still fight.

"Agreed." Katsura said.

And so it was settled. The next day Kenshin, Takahata, and a small squad of Takasugi's men, rode out of Yamaguchi Castletown and began their journey to Iwakuni.

Kenshin rode by himself most of the time. Takahata found out that the leader of the squad was also from a samurai family, despite the fact that he carried a rifle instead of the two swords at his waist common to all samurai. Takahata immediately latched onto the squad leader, barely speaking to Kenshin.

Izo, the squad leader, was a stocky man with a small birthmark on his forehead and a love affair with his rifle, which he cleaned and polished every night.

It seemed that even away from Nakamura, Takahata adhered to the snobbery the older samurai affected. He kept it wrapped protectively about him like a cloak.

The road was difficult. They had to travel through mountains, their sides cut into terraces for rice paddies. The rice fields were barren now, waiting to be flooded and planted in summer. At times long necked birds flew overhead.

"Those are hooded cranes." Takahata told the squad leader, a city dweller unfamiliar with the countryside. "You should see the cormorants in Iwakuni. In summer, the fishermen train them to dive off their boats and capture fish."

"A bird? Captures fish and doesn't eat it?"

Takahata laughed. It was one of the few times Kenshin, listening to the conversation as he rode behind, heard Takahata laugh in anything other than derision or at one of Nakamura's jokes. "There's a leash around its neck tight enough so it can't swallow the fish.

The squad leader, Izo, asked, "The bird allows this?"

Takahata shrugged. "Like I said, the birds are trained. Besides, with a leash, the cormorant always knows where its master is. I suppose it's comforting in a way."

Izo countered with a coarse remark, and Kenshin fell back a little as the conversation degenerated.

Eventually, they made it to Iwakuni. As they rode down the mountain road, the Kintai Bridge, its five arches like the outline of five turtles in a row, came into view.

Takahata noticed Kenshin looking at the view.

"Not too long ago only samurai were allowed to use the bridge." he said pointedly.

Ignoring him, Kenshin rode ahead. In the end, they crossed the Nishiki River by ferryboat, before having to use the bridge. Izo, reluctant to enter the city and alert the bandits to their presence, set up camp in the hills outside Iwakuni, ordering Kenshin and the soldiers to stay with him.

Takahata went into the city to find information.

Days passed, and each night Takahata returned with stories of the bandits' atrocities, but few leads as to their whereabouts. The squad leader began to get restless.

"I thought you knew this area."

"I do!" protested Takahata. "But I didn't associate with bandits." He spat out the word. "It's difficult to get people to talk when they don't know you."

"Try the taverns." suggested Izo coldly. "Drunks talk."

That night Takahata left the camp. He came back the next day smelling of sake, and carrying information. The bandits had a camp up in the hills. They were planning to raid a village in two days at dawn. Takahata told the squad leader that the only way they could get from the camp to the village was by one mountain path.

He and the Izo scouted it, and found a place where the path narrowed. An ambush was planned. Half the squad would hide in the trees above the far end of the narrow part, and the others would hide behind boulders at the mouth of the path. When the bandits rode past the boulders, the rifle fire from the trees would keep them from advancing, and Kenshin, Takahata, and the other squad members would take them from the rear.

"The goal here is to capture the bandit leader." Izo told his squad. "We want them to surrender, if possible. Look for whichever of them is shouting orders. Kill the others if you must, but only wound the leader."

The squad nodded and muttered agreement. Kenshin looked at their faces. Some were determined, some scared, but all would obey unquestioningly. It was the way Takasugi had trained them. Kenshin remembered his own training at Takasugi's hands. The men would do their job.

They left before dawn, moving quietly into place. Takahata, like Nakamura, preferred to be closest to whoever was in charge. He and Izo crouched behind a boulder near the mouth of the narrow part of the path where steep hills rose on either side.

Kenshin took the rear most boulder uncomplainingly. It didn't matter where he started from. He'd be in the midst of battle soon enough.

The pre-dawn air was cold. His breath ghosted around his mouth when he exhaled. It lacked about an hour until dawn, when the bandits would ride forth to attack the village. Izo believed in being early. Kenshin wondered if the village would ever know they'd been saved. He'd have to kill in order to save. For now, it was all he could do.

There was movement, not from down the road, but from the side past a stand of pine trees. Concentrating, Kenshin blocked out the sound of his comrades' breathing, the small noises they made as they shifted in their crouched positions, relieving aching muscles.

Yes. There were other sounds, not from the squad, but from others. The bandits were surrounding them. The ambush was rapidly becoming a trap.

Kenshin fell backward into a roll, thankful for his dark hair and dark blue kimono style shirt, and melted back into the shadows. So much for the straightforward ambush and capture. There wasn't time to warn the others without alerting the bandits as well. He would fight as an assassin from the shadows once again.

His first victim was crawling on his belly towards a large tree trunk, intending to hide behind it. Kenshin rose up, plunged his blade through the back of the man's neck, and twisted.

There was no sound. The man jerked a little, and went limp. Pulling the sword out, Kenshin crouched down and ghosted his way to the next victim, and then the next.

These weren't skilled swordsmen. They were bandits, used to intimidating unarmed opponents, or catching travelers by surprise. When Hiko had cut through the bandits who'd killed everyone in the slave traders' caravan but Kenshin, Kenshin thought Hiko was a demon, because he'd killed so many bandits so quickly.

Now he knew the truth. It wasn't demonic powers, but knowledge. How to stand, where to strike, which parts of the human body were most vulnerable, that was what made it so effortless for Hiko. Now Kenshin used the same knowledge.

Soon all the bandits on his side of the road were dead.

He was moving back to check the other side, when the bandit leader gave a shout, and the attack began.

Yelling, four men burst from the trees opposite Kenshin and charged toward the three squadsmen hiding behind rocks at the side of the road. Their backs were turned toward their attackers, and they had almost no time to react.

One squad member got his rifle up, but had to use it to block the downward slash of a bandit's blade whistling toward his head. The second squad member abandoned his weapon and jumped over the rock he'd been hiding behind, keeping it between him and the bandit intent on ending his life.

The third squad member wasn't so lucky. Two of the bandits were spearmen. Confronted by both simultaneously, he was pierced through before Kenshin was halfway across the road.

They didn't have time to enjoy their victory for very long. While their spears were still imbedded in their hapless victim, Kenshin leapt onto the rock at the corpse's back. Two bandit heads left their bodies with a horizontal swipe of Kenshin's blade.

Not bothering to wipe his blade, he jumped down again and engaged the two bandit swordsmen, distracting the one who was on his way around the boulder to dispatch the unarmed squad member.

The man snarled and managed to block Kenshin's blade. His friend whirled and ran at Kenshin from behind.

Kenshin allowed his sword to slide off the first bandit's, and continued the motion begun by his downward stroke, angling his blade from downward stroke to upward as he twisted his body in a turn.

He dropped his right shoulder just as the second bandit's horizontal attack was about to pierce it, and brought his right hand, grasping his own blade, up at an angle and across the bandit's torso, slaughtering him.

A shot rang out.

The squad member who'd kept his rifle was now standing weapon at his shoulder pointed at a spot behind Kenshin. Kenshin whirled and found that his senses hadn't deceived him. The first bandit had jumped on top of a boulder, intending to cleave him with a downward stroke as he jumped. Kenshin already planned to point his blade to the rear, and plunge it upward into the man's chest as he jumped, but the rifle ball forestalled him.

The wounded bandit lay moaning on the boulder, a bullet hole through his gut.

Kenshin glanced back at the rifleman, and saw a look of horror cross his face.

Following the man's gaze, Kenshin saw Izo, who'd come running to help when he'd realized what was happening, staggering back along the path, a hand clapped to his bloody shoulder.

He'd been standing right behind the bandit when the bullet traveled through the man.

Kenshin assessed the situation.

He'd killed all the bandits on the right side of the road. He'd also killed three on the left, the last one wounded by the rifleman. That accounted for the bandits, but what of his own men?

Izo had stationed three men on each side of the road, including himself. One was now dead. Where was Takahata?

Then Kenshin saw him. He was pointing down the road with an expression of horror. "F…F…Fire!" He burst out.

And so it was. Kenshin raced through the narrow pass. The trees at the other end where the path opened up after the hills were ablaze from the bottom up. The last four squad members were stationed in those pine trees, positioned to shoot down at the bandits.

Kenshin smelled whale oil. To speed the immolation, the bandits must have splashed the base of the trees when they set them afire with torches.

The other two riflemen close on his heels, Kenshin made it through the narrow pass, continuing on towards the burning trees.

To give them credit, the squad members in the trees were shooting, but with the smoke and confusion, it was doubtful they could see where they were aiming.

Mindful of Izo's warning, Kenshin looked for the bandits' leader. He was standing with his men a distance away in the shelter of a further stand of pines to the left of the path. His sword was out of its sheath, and he was surveying the burning trees with a great deal of satisfaction on his face.

Glancing up, he saw Kenshin and the two soldiers who'd come charging along behind him. The leader pointed his sword at them and yelled. Two bandits immediately attacked at a run.

As they approached, Kenshin dropped, and swung his blade across the first one's shins, bringing him down, and rose to block the other's downward stroke. Tilting his blade, he let his opponent's blade slide off his, and as the man stumbled forward, Kenshin whirled and sliced across the back of his unprotected neck.

When he turned to see what had become of the man he'd wounded, he saw that the squad member who'd accidentally shot Izo was using his weapon as a bludgeon.

Rocks hit the dirt near Kenshin. Only they weren't rocks. The squad members, disoriented by the smoke, were firing at him.

Kenshin jumped back, deliberately knocking the two squad members behind him to the ground.

"Stay down." he commanded, and rolled away to the forest on the right side of the road. The soldiers would have to use the dead body of the bandit for whatever cover it provided.

Meanwhile, the bandit leader was calling to his remaining four bandits. Three now, as the rifleman who'd dropped his weapon earlier obviously remembered what it was for, and shot one of the bandits, who fell with a surprised cry. Unable to cross the path due to the covering fire, Kenshin decided on a different objective.

One of the snipers in the tree dropped his rifle and began climbing away from the fire below him. He was cursing, an unending stream of terrified swear words.

Kenshin ran to the tree. The heat from the base of the trunk made it difficult to come near. Ignoring it, Kenshin stepped forward, concentrated, and sent his blade on a horizontal slash. It made it halfway through the trunk.

He jumped back, the edge of his hakama beginning to singe. Dropping to one knee, he stamped out the smoldering bits with the end of his sword hilt, then strode forward and tried again.

Pine trees were thicker than the tatami wrapped bamboo and small logs he'd trained on. It would take greater strength than usual. This time the blade made it all the way through. The tree swayed and fell, carrying the squad member with it.

He turned his attention to the next tree. The squad member in this one looked down in horrified fascination as Kenshin again stepped close to the flames, and chopped the tree trunk in half.

The tree fell into another pine and stopped. Without hesitation, the squad member jumped onto the non-burning tree and began climbing to the ground.

Kenshin turned his attention to the last tree. The rifleman was nowhere to be found, until he heard a moan. He walked around the flames and saw that the man had already jumped. He lay near the fire, leg bent un-naturally. It was broken. The tree above him was dropping burning pine sap and smoldering bits of wood. One landed on the man's arm, and burned through his sleeve, causing him to curse in pain.

Kenshin quickly grabbed the man by the back of his kimono collar and pulled him away, ignoring the shriek he made as the movement jarred his leg. Better hurting than dead.

Movement from under another fallen tree reminded Kenshin of the first sniper. As he came up, the man was just getting out from under the branches, one arm hanging limp and useless. Kenshin grabbed him by the collar as well and hauled him out the rest of the way.

Then he turned his attention back to the bandits. They were gone, and so were the two riflemen he'd knocked off their feet.

Kenshin plunged into the forest after them.

He met the two riflemen on their way back. "Three of them got away. I think I wounded one. Takahata's got the leader." said the rifleman who'd dropped his weapon. The other stayed silent, holding his rifle as if he wasn't sure what to do with it, as if he wanted to throw it away, but couldn't quite bring himself to do that.

His friend smacked him on the shoulder. "Come on. Let's go see how Izo is doing."

The other man winced, but followed.

Kenshin stepped back to let them pass then continued on in the direction they'd come.

The forest opened out into a small clearing. Near a wild plum tree, barren now, lay the bandit leader. Takahata stood over him with a bloodied sword.

He glanced up and saw Kenshin, his eyes registering part triumph, part sick fascination. "I did it."

Kenshin merely looked at him.

"I killed him. My first kill." Takahata blanched, swallowed hard, and stared back at the corpse. "Now Nakamura will respect me. He won't take me lightly." His voice was a mixture of pride and horror. He couldn't seem to look away.

Kenshin reached into his kimono sleeve and pulled out a small square of rice paper. Ignoring Takahata, he used the paper to wipe the blood from his blade and resheathed it.

Then he handed one to Takahata.

"Thank you." Takahata said automatically, and began wiping his blade.

Kenshin raised his face to the sky. The sun was rising, and its light was beginning to fill the clearing. His first kill had been in a spot much like this one. It had been a small clearing, green, beautiful, near a path. When spring came again, this clearing would be even more beautiful. The plum tree would be in blossom then, and the scent of its flowers would fill the air around it.

For now, the clearing was just a place of death.

Cleaning job done, Takahata stared at Kenshin nervously. "I know I wasn't supposed to kill him, but…" The small man raised a hand in a helpless gesture.

'Wasn't supposed to kill.' the phrase echoed uncomfortably in Kenshin's mind. He wasn't supposed to kill, but he had. Suddenly, the clearing with its dead became unbearable.

"Come." said Kenshin, and led Takahata away.

END CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Note to Reviewers:

Wyrd – Don't worry, Nakamura and Kenshin will eventually have a one on one chat, and it will be rather explosive. Katsura is one of my favorite characters too. Takasugi will definitely have a role in this story, and the snide, cynical side of him you saw in the OAVs will be recreated. I don't know if the real Takasugi was as cynical as Watsuki's version, it's hard to find personal information about him on the internet. Congratulations on passing first semester of Japanese! Any advice you can give me is great. Arigato Gozamasu (I think I spelled that correctly!)

Lolo popoki – I had no idea that the Japanese voice actress (I heard it was a girl) for Kenshin could sing! I'll have to check out that song.

Eric – Welcome! Thank you for the compliments and I hope you'll continue to enjoy the story's later chapters too.

Nekotsuki – I'm having loads of fun developing Kenshin's sense of compassion, and I think he's learning to use those be-flexible-and-think-on-your-feet hitokiri skills in a new way. At least I hope that's how it seems! Glad to hear I'm improving – mental note: must go frantically proof read the next chapter to make sure I don't mess up!

XZig-zagx – Er, 'Foamy'? Did I miss something? I'm glad you liked the part where Kenshin beat a hasty retreat from Tamako's house. I really liked the name 'Midori' when I first heard it too. There was a famous Japanese musician (I think she played violin) with that name. There's also a liqueur made from melons called 'Midori' though it sounds like it tastes pretty nasty, and is about the color of Gatorade. I tried to find your story "Amber Eyed Angel" but I couldn't (I read the first chapter of the sequel, 'Lavender Eyed Angel' but I was kind of lost since I hadn't read the first story.) Did it get deleted? Let me know if it comes back!

ScreamsOfTheDead – Welcome! Takasugi will continue to be a part of the story – and I'll try to keep his character true to the OAV.


	17. Chapter seventeen

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

A/N This one's an incredibly short chapter, sorry!

Note to reviewers: Thanks for catching my Takahata/Takasugi glitch. It should be fixed now!

When Kenshin and Takahata returned to the road they found Izo, one sleeve of his kimono top pulled off his wounded shoulder, being bandaged by a squad member. Sitting next to him was Gombei, the rifleman with the broken leg. Someone had already put a rough splint on it.

"Let it alone, it hurts!" The other squad member who fell with the tree was using his good arm to smack at the hands of the squad member who'd climbed down from his tree.

"If you leave it like that it'll hurt more." The uninjured one told him. "Now give it here."

He reached for his friend's injured arm, grabbed it by the hand and, bracing his foot against the other's torso, gave a quick tug.

His friend screamed and fainted, though Kenshin noted that the dislocated shoulder was now back in place.

"Takahata. Where's the leader?" asked Izo, sitting on the ground, his back against one of the boulders they'd used to try to shield their presence from the bandits.

"I…had to kill him." Takahata said.

Izo closed his eyes and swore. "Takasugi isn't going to like this." He opened his eyes again. "Or the fact that we were the ones who were ambushed."

Takasugi prostrated himself, kneeling on the ground and bowing low. "It is all my fault," he said, directing his words into the dirt. "I should have known at the tavern that they were speaking loudly so that I would overhear their plans. I was foolish. People must have remembered my questions and told the bandits I was interested. Please forgive me."

"Oh get up." said Izo tiredly. "Takasugi doesn't go for humility. Just tell him straight what happened when we get back. Now let's get out of here."

And so they did. It took several days of dealing with the Iwakuni officials, but the bodies were cleared out of the forest. Some were even identified as local ne'er do wells. The bandit leader, however, was a stranger. When Gombei's broken leg was properly set and healed enough for him to ride, they set off on their journey back home to Yamaguchi.

They reported directly to Takasugi, who happened to be surveying Murata's training method on the practice fields outside of Yamaguchi at the time. He walked away from the field to meet with them. The muted sound of gunfire punctuated their conversation.

"We failed." Izo, the squad leader, said succinctly.

Takasugi glared. "What happened?"

Izo ran through the events of that evening as he knew them, making his wound from the bullet of one of his fellow squad members sound as if it had been his own fault rather than his subordinate's. Kenshin's name came up a lot. Takasugi glanced at him sharply when he heard how many men Kenshin killed. Kenshin met his eyes calmly, giving him the blank expression he perfected when he was Batoussai. Takasugi dipped his chin slightly in approval. Kenshin had passed his test.

When Izo got to the part where his men lost the last few bandits, Takahata took up the narrative.

Standing stiff-backed, Takahata tried to copy Izo's manner of speaking, and began crisply.

"When I saw that our snipers were in danger from fire I ran in that direction. I stopped when gunfire blocked the path. I saw the bandit leader. Taking cover, I moved toward him. When the riflemen ran after the others, I followed him. I found him in a clearing. He'd been shot in his sword arm. He took out a dagger and charged. I had to kill him."

"He charged you with just a dagger?" Takasugi asked derisively.

Takahata flushed. "Yes." His voice was now less certain.

Takasugi cleared his throat, swallowing a cough, and glared.

Takahata stared at the ground. "I am short." he admitted. "Though I am a samurai, people tend to underestimate me." Since he was staring at the ground, he missed seeing Takasugi glancing at Kenshin, who was about the same height, and raising his eyebrows.

"So, the bandit leader and most of his followers are dead, and the three survivors are long gone." Takasugi summed up their report in one sentence, his tone once again derisive.

Takahata's head shot up. "They were just scum. It wasn't as if they were samurai. Of course we killed them."

"And our chances of finding out who was behind it. Well done." Sarcasm became coughing, and Takasugi covered his mouth with a handkerchief, nearly bending double with the force of it.

"Go!" he muttered from around the fabric, and waved them away. As Kenshin turned to walk away, he saw Takasugi pull the handkerchief away from his mouth. Blood stained the white fabric. No wonder Takasugi waved them away so peremptorily. He hated it when his illness made him appear weak.

Takahata walked quickly away. Realizing that he wished to be alone, Kenshin took a slower pace and a more circuitous route back to the inn.

As he arrived, Shunme was leaving.

"Kenshin! I'm glad I saw you." Shunme said, pausing in his route across the courtyard, a bundle of belongings in his hand. "I'm off on an errand for Katsura that'll take a few days. How did your mission go?"

Kenshin glanced over Shunme's shoulder to where Takahata and Nakamura were talking quietly on the porch, standing carefully apart from the common soldiers as usual.

"We failed. The leader and most of the bandits were killed."

Shunme's face twisted in sympathy. "Well cheer up. At least bandits won't bother the folks in Iwakuni again for a while. Oh, that reminds me. I've an update on Ryoma."

"Oh?"

"He's recovered from his wounds at Teradaya. Remind me to tell you the rest of the story sometime. He's back to his old self, trying to buy another ship for his beloved Kameyama Company, and yelling at his men over Chojiro."

"Chojiro?" For a moment, Kenshin didn't place the name.

"Remember that ceremony last year? Chojiro was given a sword by our Daimyo because he brokered the deal that got us the steamship called the Union."

"Yes." Kenshin had met Chojiro by the koi pond outside the government building.

"Well, he's dead. Seppuku. Ryoma about took the others' heads off for driving him to it." Shunme started backing away toward the gate. "Sorry, I've got to go. I'll tell you more when I get back." He turned around and darted out of the courtyard and down the street.

Chojiro.

Kenshin could see the man in his memory, smiling sadly over the fact that he didn't dare wear his new sword because it would cause jealousy. Chojiro had spoken of going to America or Europe where things were different. Chojiro was a bean jam maker's son, newly raised to samurai status, and resented for it. Kenshin wondered what slights he'd had to endure when he'd returned to Nagasaki bearing the sword.

Steeling himself, Kenshin walked across the courtyard and up the porch steps. As he crossed the porch, he glanced at Takahata, who looked through him as if he didn't exist.

Their mission together changed nothing. Takahata was still a samurai and Kenshin wasn't.

Kenshin kept walking.

END CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


	18. Chapter eighteen

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or plot.

Apologies to readers: I'm so sorry about that whole 'Takasugi/Takahata' mess up in the last chapter. It's now fixed, and I promise to never again try to proof read and post two chapters at one time while fighting off a head cold. (It was a losing battle, by the way. I think I've gone through three boxes of kleenax so far!)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

April 1866.

Kenshin sat against the wall of the inn, his sheathed sword leaning against his shoulder. In one corner Nakamura and Takahata sat talking. It was rare to see Nakamura at the inn these days. He spent most of his free time away. His face was strained. Kenshin assumed this meant that Tamako, his concubine, was still sick.

The regular soldiers who also lived at the inn with the bodyguards sat in clusters around the floor. One group was near enough for Kenshin to overhear their conversation.

"Murata was sure on a rampage today." The speaker was a thin soldier with an elongated face, which made his expression naturally doleful. He rubbed the top of his head. "I'm still sore where he smacked me with my rifle."

"You're sore? I'm the one with blisters on my trigger finger." The short, stocky soldier with a round baby face held out his hand to be examined.

"Niwa, don't be such a child." A soldier sitting cross-legged with an inscrutable expression and a stern manner reminiscent of a Buddha statue, admonished the baby faced one. "You deserved the extra hour of practice."

The thin one leaned forward. "I know why Murata's so determined lately. The war is coming soon."

Niwa grimaced. "We've been hearing that for months. What are those Bakufu slugs waiting for?"

"I heard that Okubo and Ishio of Satsuma are opposing the invasion. Satsuma is refusing to send troops."

Okubo.

The name was familiar. In Kyoto, four months ago, he'd been with Saigo of Satsuma when Katsura had at last agreed to the secret alliance between Choshu and Satsuma.

The soldier who looked like Buddha cleared his throat. "That is not enough to stop the Bakufu's army. I fear our Daimyo's recent action will only encourage the shogun to send the invasion sooner."

"What action?" Niwa opened his eyes wide.

"The shogun demanded that our Daimyo and his heir report to Hiroshima. It was obvious the shogun planned to take them captive so they didn't go."

"That'll make the shogun mad." Niwa said.

"It'll make him invade!" The thin one grimaced. "And we'll finally get to use Murata's training."

Motion in the doorway made Kenshin look up to see Shunme enter, slip his zori sandals off, and make his way across the tatami mats to where Kenshin sat.

"Did you miss me?" Shunme asked flippantly, as he sat down.

Kenshin merely looked at him.

"I've news of Kurata."

"What is it?" Kenshin gave in and responded.

"While I was out on an errand for Katsura I found out that Ryoma's company bought themselves a wooden ship called the Werewolf, and guess who they chose to be its captain?"

"Kurata."

"Yep. He's never even captained a rowboat before! He'll probably get seasick. I can see it now, Ike Kurata, the only captain on the sea as green as the waves beneath his ship. He'll give new meaning to the words 'heave ho'." Shunme chortled.

For a man who had different loyalities than Kurata, Shunme was remarkably good humored about Kurata's success.

"Is he trustworthy?"

How would Shunme answer that question? Suddenly, Kenshin wanted to know if he'd tell the truth. Back in Kyoto, Kenshin overheard Shunme and Kurata admit to one another that their loyalties were different. What Kenshin couldn't figure out was if Kurata was simply loyal to Ryoma instead of Katsura, or if he was loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate and Shunme was covering for him because he was a friend.

"Huh? Oh, I expect he'll do reasonably well as a sea captain. Ike Kurata was always a quick learner."

"Hmm." Shunme misunderstood the question. It was just as well.

"Hey Kenshin, maybe they'll give us a boat next. I heard Takasugi is going back to Nagasaki to buy a ship from Glover, the arms merchant. He's going to call it "The Year of the Tiger. How do you think I'd look as a captain?" Shunme struck a pose that was pure Sakamoto Ryoma, squinting as if looking into the sun, and pushing out his chest belligerently.

Kenshin stared, unimpressed. Shunme deflated his chest. "One of these days, Kenshin, I'll make you smile."

Nakamura rose suddenly, and pushed blindly past some soldiers, Takahata staring after him from his seat on the floor, mouth agape.

"Move!" Nakamura snarled, and shoved a soldier who was just getting to his feet, back down on the ground.

The soldier's face contorted. Grabbing the katana at his side, he leapt to his feet just as Nakamura made it to the door. The soldier took a step toward Nakamura. With his sheath in his left hand, and his right clutching the hilt, he began to pull his sword out.

Without consciously deciding to move, Kenshin found himself at the soldier's side.

The man froze as Kenshin gripped his right bicep tightly.

"You don't want to do that." He warned the man in a low voice.

The soldier, who was twice Kenshin's size, had sake on his breath. He tried to pull his arm away from Kenshin's grip. Kenshin's hand didn't move.

He opened his mouth to speak, and as he did, his eyes locked on Kenshin's. It was almost comical. He man's expression went from angry to fearful, then back to an angry belligerence brought on by the sake and a need to prove to himself that the fear was misplaced.

Kenshin braced himself, his mind automatically sifting through options to find the best way to strike down his opponent.

"Hey now," Shunme appeared at the man's left side. Adroitly, he gripped the sheath and shoved it upward, re-sheathing the sword from the bottom up. "Don't let Nakamura bother you. He's just a big dumb samurai like me."

The man wrenched his gaze from Kenshin's face and looked over at Shunme with a confused expression. Samurai didn't insult themselves.

Kenshin loosened his grip from the man's arm and stepped back to let Shunme work his magic.

Shunme smiled and clapped the man on the shoulder. "It's inbreeding, don't you know. All the samurai families marry each other until pretty soon every single girl you're allowed to marry turns out to be your cousin! It's awful. Why when I was looking for a wife…."

And off he went, telling story after story about the women he'd pursued during his courting days.

Soon the man was seated back on the tatami mat, another cup of sake in his hand, laughing almost as loudly as Shunme. Kenshin remained standing, watching the big soldier long after he ceased to be a threat to Nakamura.

How did Shunme do it? In the space of a few minutes, he'd convinced the man that they were bosom friends. In fact the entire group of soldiers the man had been sitting with were acting as if they'd known Shunme for years.

Do you trust me, Shunme? Or is that all an act, like the one you're putting on now? Will that drunken soldier ever realized how he'd been manipulated?

Do you trust me?

Kenshin never asked Tomoe that question. On the night when he realized that he loved her, when he swore to protect her and stay with her, to make her his wife in reality, she'd been happy. That much was not a lie.

Their early life together was.

If she'd really trusted him to protect her, why had she gone to that mountain, to meet with the Tokugawa agent? Even where there was love, there was no guarantee that trust went along with it.

Mid laugh, Shunme glanced up and saw Kenhin. He winked at him, then put his attention back on something the drunken soldier was whispering in his ear.

Kenshin took a step back from the raucous group at his feet, then another, then another. He turned and left the room.

o-o-o

Shimonoski, mid April 1866.

When Kenshin, Nakamura, Takahata, and Katsura arrived at the Shimonoseki merchant's house, it was raining lightly. The misty air felt close and sticky.

Nakamura entered by Katsura's side as if by right, Takahata took the back and Kenshin the front of the house.

As he paced in front of the structure, Kenshin noticed that even the leaves on the maple tree hung limply in the moisture laden air. There was a stillness all around, a sense of expectancy that had more to do with weather than actual danger.

Even sound seemed to carry further than usual. Kenshin heard Ryoma's steps long before he saw his tousled head of hair appearing over the front gate.

Ryoma's face was unusually serious as he pushed open the gate and walked up to Kenshin, who waited between the maple tree and the porch.

"Katsura inside?" Ryoma asked.

Kenshin nodded.

Ryoma gave twisted grin, and trudged past Kenshin up to the house.

The meeting was short. Kenshin heard the raised voices from out front. Even Nakamura, who was usually too respectful of Katsura to join in, was shouting.

The front door opened forcefully and Katsura strode out onto the porch, his face tight. Nakamura marched out as well, shouting, "Why, Katsura? Why give our rice to that wily bandit Ryoma?"

"I thought you would be pleased it wasn't going to Satsuma instead." Katsura's voice was quiet, low pitched, but it echoed the frustration in his eyes.

That stopped Nakamura for a moment, but then his eyes narrowed and he burst out, "The rice can go to the bottom of the sea for all I care, but the insult! Saigo dares to refuse our rice out of pity? After all you did to gather it to send to Kyoto for him? We don't need his pity or his help."

Katsura stopped at the end of the porch. "Nakamura." He practically barked the name. "The decision is mine."

Nakamura's step faltered. The anger faded from his eyes, then he gritted his teeth and turned away, fists clenched at his side.

"Lord Katsura?" A maidservant stepped timidly out onto the porch, waiting until Katsura looked at her. "My master wishes to speak with you before you go." she told him, bowing low.

With a last glance at Nakamura, Katsura wheeled around and returned to the mansion. Nakamura followed, his head down.

"Hello Kenshin."

Ryoma walked tiredly across the porch and sat at the edge.

Kenshin nodded at him.

"I suspect you heard what happened. All of Shimonoseki probably heard it."

"Yes." Kenshin answered simply.

Ryoma leaned back on his elbows. "Katsura is so stubborn. He can't accept a favor without seeing an insult in it."

Kenshin thought of the night when Katsura had nearly lost his life, walking home from a rice merchant's warehouse where he'd been making arrangements for the rice to be sent to Satsuma men in appreciation for their assistance in Choshu's arms dealings.

He thought of all the times he'd accompanied Katsura to warehouses and merchants' offices in the past months. Did Ryoma not understand the amount of effort Katsura had put into finding, buying, and transporting the rice?

"How is Ike Kurata?" Kenshin asked, to change the subject.

Ryoma's whole body tensed. "He's dead." he said quietly.

The bald statement no longer shocked Kenshin. So many men he'd known or worked with had died already, but he knew it would grieve Shunme.

"How?" Kenshin wondered if it were the Shinsengumi, an enraged Choshu conservative, or another Tokugawa supporter.

"He went down with his ship." Ryoma laughed softly, mirthlessly. "His first try as captain, and he refused to leave when his ship sank."

Kenshin waited, and Ryoma continued.

"There was a storm off Nagasaki. Kurata was bringing the Werewolf to Shimonoseki. The Union was towing it when the storm hit. They started taking on water. Kurata himself cut the tow line so he wouldn't take the Union down with him. Twelve men drowned. Only three of the crew survived. Kurata refused to leave with the rest."

"I'm sorry." Kenshin said the word mechanically.

"So am I." Ryoma pulled himself to an upright position. "Kurata was a good man. Japan has lost too many good men already." He slipped off the porch and began walking away.

"Take care of yourself, Kenshin." he said as he walked by. Then he opened the gate, and was gone.

END CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Note to Reviewers:

Lady Rhiyana – You guessed right. Kondo Chojiro committed seppuku because his fellow Kameyama company members found out he'd received a reward from the Choshu government that he planned to use to buy passage to England so that he could study abroad. They told him he'd broken the samurai code by not giving the entire company a share in the reward money and did indeed bully him into it. Please don't apologize for not reviewing the other chapters, I'm just happy you're still reading the story!

Kasifya – Welcome! And consider yourself hugged right back. Thanks for your kind words, and I'm glad you're enjoying the historical background. You're absolutely right, it's not geeky to want to learn more (of course when you spend hours on the internet trying to find the correct type of artillery that may have been used in the choshu war….sigh. I guess 'obsessive' would be a better way to describe me! Oh well, at least I'm having fun doing it!)

Iesu no Neko – Welcome! Glad you liked chapter 10, and I'm overjoyed to find someone else who's read "Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai"! Have you read Hillsborough's "Samurai Sketches"? I've also read a book by Charles J. Dunn entitled "Everyday Life in Traditional Japan" and I didn't know he had one about the Meiji era too! I ended up using a lot of what I read in "Everyday Life in Traditional Japan" – great book! Thanks for reviewing!

XZig-zagx – I'm looking forward to the reposting of "Amber Eyed Angel"! What about it wasn't PG-13 material? I'm glad you liked the fight scene. There isn't any fighting in this chapter but there will be once the war starts. Hmm. Maybe I should up my rating to 'R' for the violence. How picky ARE the site administrators?

Conspirator – Thanks for calling my last chapter awesome. I hope you like this one too.

BakaBokken – How did your midterm go? I'm glad my chapters helped you get your mind off it! And you're welcome for the review – I really liked "A Strong Will"!

Lilmatchgirl007 – Glad you liked the fight, and thanks for letting me know about the Takasugi/Takahata error.

Kie-san – Sorry to hear about the snow taking out your internet! Sometimes I too wish that Kenshin could just show up Nakamura, but somehow it never seems to fit in the storyline. Plus he's so quiet and self-effacing in the OAV. As for Shunme, you'll find out about him in later chapters, though it may take a while.

Wyrd – I'm glad you liked the fight scene and Takahata's reaction to his first kill. Thanks for the corrections too (I'm still seething with embarrassment over the Takasugi/Takahata one!). I think I'll just give up trying to write romaji (probably misspelled that one too. Sigh.) and stick to English. Are you learning kanji symbols too? I hope you have a great week as well!

Sailor-Earth13 – If I could make Kenshin an honorary samurai I would, but I just can't seem to work it into the story! I'm posting chapter 18 sooner than I'd planned as penance for messing up Takasugi and Takahata in chapter 17, so enjoy!

Lolo popoki – Thanks for the webpage address. I'll try to unzip it (eek! That sounds so technical!). Thanks for the heads up about Takahata/Takasugi and I think it's fixed now.


	19. Chapter nineteen

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or plot

CHAPTER NINETEEN

June 4, 1866. It was now two years to the day that the Shinsengumi raided the Ikedaya Inn in Kyoto and slaughtered many of the Choshu loyalists, setting in motion the events that led Kenshin and Tomoe to flee together, events that ended in her death.

Katsura drove himself relentlessly that day. Walking alongside him through the streets of Yamaguchi Castletown, Kenshin couldn't help but wonder if Katsura was keeping himself too busy to remember. Each had their own ghosts to contend with that day.

The Bakufu forces were massing along each border of Choshu. The southeast, east, northeast, and western areas all reported seeing armies setting up camp just outside Choshu territory.

Katsura was checking and double-checking defensive plans, making sure supply lines were set up and protected, and talking to his generals.

"We'll go to Shimonoseki tomorrow." he told Kenshin, as they walked away from the government building.

Katsura was silent for a few paces, then went on. "I'm worried about Takasugi."

Kenshin gave him a sideways glance. Katsura didn't usually discuss his worries with him. His reticence was one of the things Kenshin found restful about guarding the man.

"Takasugi will be in the thick of battle once it starts. He isn't well. Just as he persuaded me to give up the sword and orchestrate others in battle, I must persuade him to do the same." Katsura dipped his chin to his chest and stared at the ground in front of him as his gait slowed. "It's galling to know that others are in danger while you are kept safe."

"Ikedaya." Kenshin breathed the word.

Katsura glanced at him sharply. "Yes. I wasn't there when the Shinsengumi raided it. I was supposed to be, but I was delayed. Miyabe and the others died without me. When this battle begins, many will die without me as well."

Katsura sighed. "Takasugi must realize that he is too important to sacrifice. I would rather lose a legion than Takasugi."

After several more meetings, Kenshin walked Katsura home. Shunme was off running one of his errands for Katsura, and he'd taken Oshio and Hojo with him. Takahata was on night duty. He was waiting for Katsura at his front gate, barely acknowledging Kenshin's presence with a curt nod before following the weary Choshu leader inside. Kenshin waited until he heard Katsura's front door partition open and close before leaving, his duty done for the day.

Of the bodyguard squad, only Nakamura would be at the inn, assuming he wasn't with Tamako, his concubine.

Turning the corner leading to the inn's street, Kenshin paused. Just outside the gate was Midori, crumpled into a heap. The girl was sobbing quietly, her head in her hands.

She didn't notice when Kenshin stopped beside her. He knelt, and touched her shoulder. Her navy blue kimono was printed with a tiny white cherry blossom pattern.

Midori lifted her head and showed him a tear-stained face. The little girl's cheek had a red mark, roughly the size of a hand, on it.

Kenshin's eyes narrowed. "What happened?"

She gulped. "My mistress, she's dead." A furious burst of sobbing stopped her from speaking again for some time.

Kenshin hesitated. When he lost Tomoe, he would have cut the hand off of anyone who touched him in sympathy, but he wasn't an eleven-year-old girl.

What would Shunme do?

Gingerly, Kenshin reached out and touched her shoulder again, this time leaving his hand there. The little girl's shoulders heaved with her sobs. She leaned into him automatically, and sat slumped against his side, her face burrowing into his kimono in the vicinity of his armpit.

At a loss, Kenshin patted her shoulder, rather like he would a dog's head, until her sobbing lessened. Eventually she pushed away from him and sat up straight, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands.

Kenshin sat back on his heels and regarded her warily. What if she started crying again?

"What happened?" he asked. If she started talking, perhaps she'd forget about the tears.

Midori gulped raggedly, but pulled herself together enough to answer. "Master Nakamura, when I told him that Tamako was dead, he yelled at me. He kept asking why I didn't bring him in time." Another tear streaked down Midori's cheek.

"I told him when I came back from the market she was dead. I didn't know she was going to die! I wouldn't have gone to get food if I knew she was going to die!" The girl's voice was rising. Her appeal was becoming hysterical.

"Why did he hit you?" Kenshin asked quickly.

She raised a hand hesitantly to her wet cheek. "I asked him what was to become of me now that mistress Tamako was dead. He told me I didn't matter at all. Then he slapped me and told me to get out of his sight." Midori's eyes began tearing up again. "I don't know what to do."

The last time Kenshin had a helpless female on his hands, he'd taken her to an inn, and left her with the innkeeper, a formidable woman, who'd given her a job.

Tomoe.

This time the memory came without an ache. He'd carried her to the inn that night. It had been raining, and he could remember how difficult it had been to navigate the streets with her limp body in his arms. He let that memory guide him. At least little Midori was awake.

Kenshin stood and held out his hand. "Come."

Midori sniffed, then with a child's lack of hesitation, she put her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet. Remembering her manners, she bowed. "Thank you."

Kenshin pushed the gate open and held it for her. He led her across the courtyard to the porch. Tama, seated on the porch looking after Sota, saw them first and jumped to her feet. Sota immediately grabbed the doll she let fall on the wooden planking and shoved its porcelain head in his mouth.

As Kenshin and Midori came up the stairs Tama walked over.

"Why are you crying?" she asked the older girl.

"Oh…I…"

"She needs a place to stay." Kenshin told Tama. "Where is your mother?"

"I'll get her." Tama backed away, staring at Midori with a mixture of curiosity and worry.

Sota dropped the doll, crawled a few paces, then pushed to his feet and toddled over, grabbing onto Midori's kimono.

The girl's face clenched. Kenshin was afraid she was going to start crying again, but then her forehead smoothed out and she knelt on the floor to become eye level with Sota.

"Hello. My name is Midori. What's yours?"

"Sota!" crowed the toddler.

Mariko, the innkeepers' wife, opened the door and came out on the porch. She bowed, glancing curiously between Kenshin and Midori as she pulled herself upright.

"This girl is Midori. She needs a place to stay. I thought you could use the help."

Mariko's eyes widened, and fastened on Midori. "I don't know. I'd have to ask my husband."

Sota promptly fell face forward against Midori, who instinctively reached out and set him upright again.

Mariko's expression softened. "I suppose she could sleep in the kitchen. Tama." The woman touched her daughter's shoulder. "Go and see if we have an extra sleeping blanket."

Tama nodded smartly and ran off inside.

"Mariko!" The innkeeper's voice came from further in the inn. "Where are you?"

She bowed distractedly to Kenshin. "That's my husband. I'll go ask him now." She turned to Midori. "Could you watch Sota for a minute?"

"Yes ma'am." Midori answered promptly.

Mariko bowed again to Kenshin and fled inside.

Sota retreated a few steps then sat down and began chewing on Tama's doll. Midori walked over, placing herself between him and the edge of the porch.

"Kenshin?" her voice came softly, hesitantly, as she looked at him.

"Yes?"

"Thank you. I was praying for help and you came. You saved me."

Kenshin could feel heat rising in his cheeks. He felt distinctly uncomfortable.

"It was nothing." He said gruffly, and leaned against the post supporting the eaves overhead. He glared into the inn as if he could make Mariko return by force of will alone. He was no one's savior.

The innkeeper and his wife returned. Isao was a small boned man, exactly his wife's height. He'd inherited the inn from his grandfather, and was trying hard to make a success of it. Kenshin had never spoken to the man directly. Every time he'd seen him he'd been rushing around doing chores.

Isao took one look at Midori, standing protectively over his son, and bowed. "My wife and I would like to welcome Midori to our inn."

"I can stay?" asked Midori, hope in her eyes.

Isao smiled. "Yes. You will do your best?"

Midori nodded. "I will try my hardest."

Isao smiled again, weariness in his eyes. "Then come. There's plenty of work to do."

Midori followed the Innkeeper and his family inside, flashing a last backward smile at Kenshin as she carefully pulled the door panel shut behind her.

She thought he was her savior.

Kenshin wasn't sure what to think about that. His hands were stained with the blood of so many men. How could making one little girl smile make up for any of that? It was a drop compared to the ocean of crimes he'd committed.

Still, Kenshin had to admit as he went down the steps, he felt warmed by Midori's gratitude, as though a small ember turned up from a fire he thought long dead. Kenshin drew a breath and stared out at the empty courtyard.

He would atone for his crimes. As soon as this war was over, he'd devote his life to small acts of kindness and perhaps someday, after years of helping others rather than hurting them, the ember would become a flame and burn up his internal record of his past crimes.

It was his only hope of salvation.

END CHAPTER NINETEEN

A/N I'm not happy with that last line. Salvation isn't something that can be earned, it has to be given, but the line sounded good and I couldn't think of anything else that would work as well, so I stuck with it. I know this is yet another character development chapter, and had very little action in it. I promise that the next one will have more. The war in Choshu is officially beginning so there will be plenty of fighting going on.

Note to Reviewers:

Iesu no Neko – Ah ha! You listened to the OAV in Japanese and read the subtitles, didn't you? I ended up listening to the dubbed version, and in it Katsura (or the English voice actor portraying him) calls our favorite red headed assassin "Kenshin" when he sends him and Tomoe off to Otsu. After reading your review I watched it again with subtitles and you're right. In the subtitled version Katsura calls him "Himura". Himura is undoubtedly more correct and polite, but since I started out having Katsura call him Kenshin, I'm kind of stuck now. I also had to decide whether or not to use the honorifics – san, sama, chan, dono, etc. and I decided not to simply because some readers might not know what they meant and could end up confused. Hillsborough is writing a new book about the Shinsengumi! You've made my day with that news! I can't wait till it's out in the bookstores! And thanks also for your comments about the 'seeming' conversation and Saito's hair!

Kie-san – As for what Nakamura's ticked off about, let's just say that Takahata probably made a tactless remark. Nakamura's on emotional overload, so anything is likely to set him off – which is why you need to tread softly around people who are grieving. Plus Nakamura is a bit of a jerk even when he's not worried about a loved one.

XZig-zagx – You have my sympathies about your story getting yanked due to an overzealous reader. It happened to me too because I wrote a story in 'script format' which enabled a flamer/reviewer to rat me out to the administrators to settle some petty score or other. The worst part about it is you lose all your old reviews. As for me publishing a novel, thanks so much for thinking that I ever could! I've written some original stories in the past, but let's just say they should really stay in the past. I read them now and absolutely cringe in embarrassment. They really are that bad!

Conspirator – I had a lot of fun coming up with the 'heave ho' line. Glad you liked it. I love doing character development. For me, it's a lot easier than the fight scenes, and Kenshin's memories of Tomoe are still raw and will color his relationships with others for some time to come, so in a sense they are more important than the physical conflicts because their effects last longer.

Kasifya – Your review made me smile, but no, there's no magic here, just a near-heretical reverence for the 'Trust and Betrayal' OAVs. Thanks for the encouragement about the time spent researching! As for someone recognizing Kenshin so Nakamura realizes he's the hitokiri battousai….I thought about it, but decided not to. Apart from Katsura and Takasugi, most of the other Choshu loyalists who were in Kyoto with Kenshin were slaughtered during the Ikeda-ya incident, so there's no one left TO recognize him. Don't worry though. Nakamura and Kenshin will eventually have a confrontation. And yes, I'd love a tissue! (my dratted cold is hanging on forever) and a hug – though it had better be a long distance one – you REALLY don't want to catch this cold.

SailorEarth13 – Thanks for reassuring me about my bone-headed error in the last chapter. I'm glad it wasn't too distracting for you (I still can't believe I missed that!)

LadyRhiyana – I'm quite happy with Shunme too. He's turned out to be pivotal in Kenshin's development. Poor Kenshin doesn't quite know how to feel about him though! As for your question about samurai sitting around discussing politics…I'm not entirely sure that they did, though I've been watching this great Japanese TV series called "Shinsengumi" (subtitled, of course. I can only dream about watching it in Japanese and actually understanding it) and the samurai seem to discuss politics quite a lot in the show. In the OAV Kenshin never exhibited the least curiosity about the political machinations going on around him. He'd listen when Iizuka told him things, but he never seemed to initiate the conversation. Shunme has kind of taken Iizuka's place as Kenshin's fount of information for the purposes of the story. I have to get in the historical background somehow!

Lolo popoki – Yes, Kurata definitely took his role as the 'captain going down with the ship' seriously. That's actually how the real Kurata died during the Meiji era. Ryoma was heartbroken because he not only lost his company's ship, he lost a good friend with it. As for the weather, I think I'm on the opposite coast from you (you're in Florida, right?) and its sunny here so I can't use weather as the excuse for my cold. I think it's just plain old bad luck! Speaking of bad luck, I tried to find the song but when I typed in the address the computer kept giving me companies that release butterflies at weddings! Grr. I'll have to try another search engine.

Supernaturalove – You make a very good point about Kenshin's confusion following Tomoe's death. I have to keep reminding myself that Kenshin is still a teenager despite being the hitokiri battousai, with all of a teenager's innate capacity to be hurt and not know how to deal with those feelings. In my story, Kenshin's way of coping is to lock his feelings away and shut himself off from emotions, though they keep bubbling up despite his efforts.

Lilmatchgirl007 – Oh no, I don't hate Tomoe at all. Quite the contrary. I almost wish I did hate her because perhaps then I wouldn't blubber so much whenever I watch the end of 'Betrayal' when she dies. The first time I watched it I cried all the way through the credits then sat in the dark crying for another five minutes. Pathetic, eh? Oddly enough, I don't hate Kaoru either – though usually people seem to love one and automatically hate the other. Though Kaoru does tend to be a bit too chirpy for my taste, and she's timorous and uncertain when she needs to be bold. Did anyone else want to smack her upside of the head and yell, "Will you please just tell Kenshin you love him already?" during the anime series? I was really rooting for a more definitive ending to the TV series. Sigh.


	20. Chapter twenty

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or plot.

Apologies in advance for any typographical errors. I wasn't able to print this out and proofread it as I usually do so I had to try to proof it on the computer. I've got a sinking feeling that I missed lots of errors, so please feel free to point them out to me if you find any!

CHAPTER TWENTY

June 7, 1866. Shimonoseki again. Kenshin patrolled the front of the familiar merchant's home. The maple tree stood still, its leaves silent. There wasn't a breath of wind to cool the heavy warmth of the summer air.

Takahata was patrolling the back, Nakamura had stayed behind in Yamaguchi, along with Oshio and Hojo, who were excited that Katsura said they could leave his service to fight with the other soldiers once the conflict began. Kenshin hadn't seen Shunme in days. He was always off on his mysterious errands for Katsura.

"We're ready." Takasugi's voice came from the mansion as he allowed the maidservant to slide the door open for him.

Kenshin turned to look as Katsura followed his friend out onto the porch.

"Good." Katsura said.

Takasugi opened his mouth to reply, but stopped as the sound of running footsteps came from down the street.

Kenshin placed his hand on his sword hilt as the runner burst through the gate. The man was breathing heavily. He was agitated, but his hands were clutching paper, not a sword.

"Takasugi!" The man shouted as he caught sight of his commander on the porch. He waved the paper. "They're firing on Ohshima Island."

The merchant's house had a view of Shimonoseki Straits partially obscured by trees. Takasugi's gaze lifted from the man to the sea just visible beyond the maple leaves.

"It's begun." Takasugi's pockmarked face took on the expression of a cat spotting its prey as he stared out across the strait. His posture made Kenshin think of the string of a moon guitar after it's been plucked, thrumming with energy.

Takasugi jumped off the porch and passed Kenshin without a glance, taking the report from his subordinate, unfolding and reading it as he walked toward the gate.

"Kenshin." Katsura's voice softly called him over.

Kenshin climbed the porch steps and joined the older man. Katsura's face was set, determined, yet worried.

"I want you to follow Takasugi. Get yourself on his ship and guard him in the coming battle."

"But Katsura…"

Katsura stared into Kenshin's eyes almost angrily. "I know that Takasugi assigned you to be my bodyguard and assassin, but now he needs you more than I. Takasugi is dying. He may become foolhardy and try to join in the fighting. He's crazy enough to try to board a bakufu ship. I need you to keep him safe."

"What about you? Where's Shunme?"

"I'll be fine. Shunme will be back soon and I've got Takahata with me as well. Now go, quickly."

Kenshin nodded, turned and ran.

He caught up to Takasugi and his messenger just as they reached the docks and boarded Takasugi's ship, The Year Of The Tiger. It was a wooden gunboat, a warship with masts reaching high into the sky like the skeletal branches of trees in winter, as its sails were now furled, rolled up and secured for its time in port. Cannon barrels were visible along its sides.

Kenshin hung back, allowing Takasugi and his underling to go up the gangplank without him. The minute Takasugi got on board, the activity increased.

He waited until Takasugi disappeared down into the interior of the ship, then strode confidently up to the gangplank, where he was immediately challenged by one of the sailors carrying a rifle.

"What do you want?" the sailor asked suspiciously.

"Katsura sent me."

Another sailor, walking along behind Kenshin with a chest on his shoulder, nodded to the first one. "I've seen him with Katsura. He's the bodyguard."

The first sailor stepped back to allow Kenshin to pass.

At the top of the gangplank, Kenshin thanked the second sailor and moved to the far railing, to be out of the way of the sailors and soldiers who were checking their rifles and running up and down the steps leading below decks.

Takasugi came back out and gave the order to cast off. Kenshin hung back, finding a shadowed nook by one of the cabin-like constructions that sprouted from the deck of the ship.

The ship jerked, and moved away from the dock. Its prow turned toward the straits of Shimonoseki as it left the merchant town behind.

"Takasugi." Kenshin came up alongside the captain to make his presence known, bending his knees slightly to counteract the roll of the ship's deck beneath his feet.

Takasugi glared. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be with Katsura."

"He sent me."

Takasugi gave a quick bark of a laugh. "As though I needed protection." He glanced over Kenshin's head to where two sailors were arguing with a rifleman. "Just stay out of the way."

And so Kenshin did, shadowing Takasugi as he roamed the ship, barking orders, consulting with subordinates, and planning his attack.

They would attack in the evening. Kenshin couldn't help but hear the crewmembers' worried comments. Evidently, nighttime naval attacks were unheard of. If Takasugi was aware of their fears, he ignored them.

The night was dark, light clouds covered the moon and stars. Standing on the upper deck near Takasugi, Kenshin heard the gunners preparing their cannons, mounted along the gunwales. Squads of sharpshooters lined the decks, staring intently out across the water, getting their eyes acclimated to the dark.

From the upper deck, Kenshin had a clear view of Ohshima Island. Its fortifications, now in Bakufu hands, were standing out in stark contrast to the natural beauty of the island skyline.

Four massive Bakufu warships, purchased from the French, were anchored just off the island. Kenshin was horribly aware of just how small Takasugi's ship was in comparison. The Bakufu warships were twice the size of The Year Of The Tiger. They lay silent and dark in the water, sleeping.

Takasugi's men maneuvered the Year Of The Tiger in between the larger ships, which loomed up in the night as they came within range.

Kenshin stood at Takasugi's side. From over the ship's rail he stared out at the enemy ships now surrounding the diminutive Year Of The Tiger. They were absolutely still.

"Fire." shouted Takasugi. Immediately, the cannons on both sides of the ship went off, the booms nearly deafening in such close quarters. The crack and splinter of wood echoed across the water. The bakufu ships were hit.

Men began pouring out onto the decks of the Tokugawa navy's warships, rushing up from staircases set into the decks.

As they made it out onto the top of their ship's deck, Takasugi's sharpshooters began firing. The bakufu soldiers didn't stand a chance.

Takasugi's ship was so close, that Kenshin could practically see the expressions of the soldiers as they died, their bodies jerking back from the impact of a rain of bullets. And the soldiers kept coming, each successive wave shot down as they cleared the top of the stairs.

Kenshin glanced across the deck and saw the same scene being played out on the ships on the other side of the Year Of The Tiger. There were too many casualties to count, and all in the space of moments. Gun smoke and the sickly smell of blood wafted across the midnight water.

The cannons reloaded and began firing again.

Takasugi laughed harshly, causing Kenshin's horrified gaze to jerk back from the carnage continuing on either side, and stare at the man.

Takasugi was surveying the damage to the bakufu ships. "This is so easy, I almost feel guilty." His eyes were fever bright. He began to cough; his glee undiminished as he reached into his shirt and pulled out a handkerchief.

Kenshin looked away from the blood staining the white fabric, to the blood still being spilled on the decks of the bakufu ships.

More shots rang out, this time in the direction of Ohshima Island. The bakufu troops on shore realized that their ships were being attacked.

Takasugi straightened, wiping his mouth furiously. "Retreat!"

The order was shouted along the ship, and the Year Of The Tiger shuddered and came about, as sailors ran frantically along the decks blowing out the lanterns. The ship glided away in complete darkness.

Before the last lantern on the upper deck was extinguished, Kenshin took a last look at the piles of bodies on the Bakufu ships. The battle lasted only a few minutes, and scores of people were dead. He shuddered slightly at the horror of it.

Feeling Takasugi's gaze on him, Kenshin shifted to meet it, and saw that his commander's eyes were narrowed in contempt. Then the last light went out.

"Queasy Kenshin?" Takasugi's voice, dark with blood and heavy with satisfaction, seemed overly loud now that the firing on board stopped.

"No."

A dark, knowing chuckle answered his denial. "I never thought I'd see the best killer I ever trained turn weak at the sight of a few bodies, battousai." Takasugi used his old title mockingly.

"I'm not the hitokiri battousai anymore." The ship was now out of range of the snipers on Ohshima's shore. Kenshin moved away from Takasugi to the steps leading to the lower deck.

"We go ashore tomorrow to finish what we've started, Kenshin. Hitokiri battousai or not, if Katsura sent you, I will make use of your skills."

Kenshin paused, but didn't turn around.

"Yes." he said at last, and made his way down the steps.

o-o-o

Takasugi insisted on leading the troops of his Extraordinary Corps on shore at first light. Kenshin stayed at his side for as long as possible, but Takasugi eventually found a hillock where he set up a command center.

"Go and fight." He told Kenshin. "You're wasted here."

"Katsura said…" began Kenshin in protest.

"I don't care what Katsura said. I gave you to him, and he gave you back. You obey my orders now. If we don't win this battle, we'll all be captured and killed. How will you guard me then? Now go."

Waving over a lieutenant, Takasugi assigned Kenshin to his squad.

Kenshin became a common soldier. His squad was ordered to support Takasugi's main force, which was advancing into the interior of Ohshima. Refusing to use a rifle, Kenshin spent much of the time pinned down by enemy fire behind a ridge.

The noise and smell were horrific. Blood, human waste, and gunpowder smoke all combined to form a noxious miasma that lay heavily over the field of battle. Bullets flew overhead, or thudded into the hill where Kenshin lay hunkered down next to the other squad members.

A rifleman took pity on him, and showed him how to reload. There was a lever on the underside of the rifle near the trigger. When the lever was pulled down, the gun opened on a hinge and the barrel tipped forward. After inserting a brass cartridge inside the barrel, all that was left to be done was to close it. This snapped the barrel back into place, ready to be fired. Grabbing a gun from a dead soldier's hand, Kenshin loaded it and traded off handing it to the rifleman when the rifleman's own weapon was empty.

Until the time when the rifleman didn't reach for the spare rifle.

The man lay slumped against the dirt, a hole in the back of his skull where the fatal bullet had exited. Kenshin left him where he lay and crawled over to the next soldier down the row, silently handing him the loaded spare weapon when his own ran out of ammunition.

Late in the afternoon, the order came to charge. This was when Kenshin's skill became useful.

All coherent thought fled. He was running forward with the others, some of whom had their own swords out in the time honored fighting style of the samurai. Ignoring those who fell from bullet wounds, Kenshin moved on, and engaged the bakufu troops, reaching them first.

He cut a swath through the soldiers like a sickle through a rice patch. In close quarters, their rifles were useless. He lost count of the men he killed. He didn't think about master Hiko's teachings. There was no need for the more esoteric sword techniques. One vital point for each victim worked fine.

His hands grew slick with blood. If not for the silk strands wrapped around the hilt, Kenshin's fingers would have slid off long since.

Finally, it was night, and his squad fell back to light the cook fires and eat their evening meal of rice balls with pickled plums stuck in the middle, and dried fish.

At dawn it began again. Kenshin awoke to the sound of artillery shells; the bakufu and the choshu sides both had brought cannon. By midmorning the battle was in full swing.

His squad was ordered to the center of the front line, but ended up toward the right of it, angling their way into a patch of woods, which they held for the rest of the day.

They repulsed attacks twice that afternoon, the Bakufu troops charging with a yell, only to be stopped by gunfire. Kenshin killed the few who managed to get into the tree line, having to keep his head down to avoid getting it shot off by one of his own men.

The second attack was more vicious, as the Bakufu troops became desperate. Kenshin fought for two solid hours of brutal one on one combat before the enemy troops pulled back and out of the woods.

Night fell. The squad settled for the night next to a graveyard at the edge of the woods. Kenshin slept sitting upright, his back against a tree.

With the darkness came quiet, the stilling of gunfire as light faded and with it the ability to see to aim the guns.

He imagined Tomoe coming softly from behind him, preceded by a smell of white plum blossoms.

Her arms wrapped around him, and her chin came down to rest on top of his head. Once again he heard her voice from memory saying, "you could have been happy as a farmer with land and some seeds to plant."

An image came to him then, of their house in Otsu, the field they'd planted, of working with Tomoe, side by side. Her slow smile as she gazed at the tender crops beginning to sprout through the soil warmed him in a way that no blanket could.

He woke to the reality of the battlefield with its smell of blood and the groans of the wounded, and felt again that searing loss that he'd felt when she died. There among the other members of the squad, sitting or lying around him, he felt alone once again.

END CHAPTER TWENTY

**A/N Civil War fans may recognize that Kenshin learned to load the Maynard Carbine, a favorite weapon of the confederate cavalry. Thomas Glover, the arms merchant who sold Choshu weapons, was said to have sold them a lot of civil war surplus weapons, and the Maynard Carbine could very well have found itself in Choshu hands.**

Note to reviewers:

First and foremost, apologies to Wyrd! I forgot to acknowledge Wyrd's last review!

Wyrd – I'm so sorry I forgot your last review. I read it, I even jotted down notes to respond to it when I saw it on my review alert, then I never typed them in. My only excuse is I have a cold and my brain processes are a lot slower when I'm sniffling and coughing. As penance, I will let you in on my dark dastardly secret…I've finished the story. It's about 27 chapters long, and the rest of it is set during the actual fighting that occurred when the shogunate forces attempted to subdue Choshu for good. Unfortunately, 'finished' is a relative term. It's written, it's just not grammar checked, spell checked or proofread in any way shape or form, and it takes me forever to proofread my own work, so don't expect more than a chapter or two a week. Even with proofreading, sometimes cheesy elements find their way in – like the paragraph you mentioned last chapter, and you're right, "repentance" would have been a more accurate word, but 'salvation' sort of went with Midori saying that he'd saved her. (I got a kick out of making Kenshin squirm when he had to try to comfort her – why is it that we always resort to patting people and saying things like 'there there' when we don't know what else to do?) Oh, and to answer your question about why Nakamura ran out, just chalk it up to Takahata making a tactless remark. Good luck with the Japanese studies! I enjoyed reading about the different types of alphabets. P.S. I would have sent you a personal email to grovel some more, but you signed in 'anonymous' on your review so I couldn't.

Cardinal – Welcome! Thank you for the compliment about the historical setting/characters! I'm glad you noticed the change in Kenshin because that's my goal in this story, to show how he went from cold hearted killer to warm hearted rurouni. Your review was quite encouraging.

Kie-san – I'm glad you're enjoying the character development. I know what you mean about Nakamura. He's complicated. Even the most even tempered people can snap when faced with tragedy and Nakamura has never been even tempered since Kenshin has known him.

Conspirator – I just finished reading your last chapter of "An Unexpected Lesson" and I loved it! I'm glad you liked the scene with Midori. I imagined Kenshin was like an only child who'd never been around small children much and was all of a sudden called upon to babysit. If I managed to get a little of that uncertainty across, I'm happy. I also couldn't resist bringing Tomoe into it. It seemed to make sense that Kenshin would flash back to that incident since Midori's plight was similar.

Sailor-Earth13 – You make a very good point about Kenshin wanting to help those in pain. After all, that was the whole reason he left his master and joined the Ishin Shishi. I wonder if anyone has ever written a story about what might have prompted Kenshin's passionate hatred of the Tokugawa Shogunate's corruption and injustice? Hmmm….new plot idea…but no…bad author! Must finish proofreading and posting this story before going on to another!

XZig-zagx – Really, you have some embarrassingly bad old stories hidden away in your closet too? One day I plan to have a bonfire and burn all my old ones so they'll never have a chance to see the light of day! I'm glad you liked this chapter. I thought it was about time Kenshin did something non-violent that would help someone else, since the violence is about to heat up in this chapter. Thanks for your encouragement about the ending!

Lolo popoki – Yes indeed, Mariko is finally going to get some more help around the inn. It's also an added benefit that Kenshin is beginning to think in terms of helping others some other way than using a sword. I took your advice and did a websearch and found the website just fine. I was all ready to click on the song and listen to it when the website demanded that I punch in my 'winzip' registration code. Now that shouldn't actually be a problem, because I have a 'winzip' icon on my computer. However, finding the box and or paperwork that came with it and has the winzip registration number….sigh. Filing is not one of my strong points. But I still haven't given up hope looking for it. There are several stacks of papers it could be hiding behind so I'll keep trying.

Lilmatchgirl007 – The image of Kenshin looking bewildered while everyone dashes away in fear made me smile too. I suppose I'm counting on the way rumors spread. During Kenshin's tenure as hitokiri I'm sure Katsura tried to only let Iizuka (his go-between who delivered instructions) know that Kenshin was the hitokiri. In the OAV before the Ikedaya affair Kenshin slaughtered his victims and took out any witnesses too. (except for Tomoe, and he even asked himself if he should kill her too before she fainted in his arms and his protective instincts kicked in). To an outside observer Kenshin was just another ishin shishi soldier, and the other choshu soldiers he lived with at the inn would have been slaughtered or captured by the Shinsengumi at Ikedaya. This means that the rumors were mostly tall tales or leaps of deduction by the Shinsengumi when they investigated the aftermath of Kenshin's work. I figured the rumors of his description probably wouldn't have spread all the way to Choshu yet, though the Kyoto gossip mongers would already have stories to tell. Plus, poor old Kenshin has so much trouble in the anime series dealing with being recognized, I decided to give him a break from it in my story, since it happens so soon after the OAV.

Iesu no Neko – That whole hair like bars of a cage thing just kind of came to me. Saito is so deliciously cool and dangerous looking that he reminded me of a wolf in a pen, the bars being the only thing keeping his savage nature contained. Kind of like his personal motto of aku soku zan (destroy evil instantly) keeps him from being one of the bad guys after the Meiji Restoration. Saito's sense of honor makes him the perfect policeman (he bears an eerie resemblance to Javert in "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo. Though Javert's sense of honor and duty drives him to suicide because he doesn't know how to deal with it when the criminal he's been chasing turns out to have changed into a hero. I can't see Saito doing that!)

BakaBokken – I'm glad you're liking Shunme. You're right about Midori, I purposely tied her to Kenshin's decision to atone. Kids tend to bring out the best in Kenshin, and Midori hero-worships him.

Misaoshira – Welcome! I'm glad to know you've been enjoying this and I'm honored that you think my story is anywhere near as good as Conspirator's "Descent Into Madness". She's such an amazing author. You're right about the Jinchuu arc – I REALLY wish they'd animated it. I think the reason I like both Tomoe and Kaoru so much is because both characters fit their respective stories so well. Tomoe's quiet, tragic beauty was the perfect complement to the OAV while Kaoru's cheerful spunkiness fits the "Rurouni Kenshin"genre.

Myswyrr – I'm glad you're liking my Ocs though I have to admit I stole a lot of them from history like Ryoma, Chojiro, and Kurata. My only truly original characters are the innkeeper's family and the bodyguards Kenshin works with. So you liked the sword cleaning process? It must have been a real chore to have to go through all that every time you cleaned a sword. I've cleaned the katana blades a couple of times but I've never had the courage to try to disassemble then reassemble the whole thing!

Kasifya – Your hug must have worked because I feel a lot better today! (Though I can still use the tissues – drat this runny nose!) I haven't been able to find a biography on Katsura so I had to go by the OAV but I figured if he had compassion enough to worry about what the job was doing to Kenshin then he'd be the type of leader who would chafe at sending others out to fight and die knowing that he couldn't be fighting at their side. As for the history of Christianity in Japan, the Shimabara revolt was tragically its last gasp. After that the Tokugawa shogunate systematically drove it out, as it distrusted any foreign influence. I think there's a museum in Nagasaki next to the '26 Martyrs Memorial' that has exhibits on the hidden Christians that survived the purge. So you read BakaBokken's stories too? I absolutely loved her "A Strong Will" –though it made me cry because it was so tragic. Ah angst, what would we do without it?


	21. Chapter twentyone

CHAPTER TWENTYONE

"They've retreated!" The call came from a very young looking soldier, running and stumbling up to the lieutenant, who shook himself awake and stood.

They'd been fighting two days and one night. Kenshin was tired. Last night he'd dreamed of Tomoe. It bothered him that he could think of her in the midst of such a place as this, a place that reeked of blood. Death was all around. Another two of the wounded had died during the night.

Even their campsite was near the stone sculptures of a graveyard, the gravestones sticking up from the ground in disorderly rows nearly on top of each other. They reminded him of the stone carving he'd commissioned as Tomoe's grave marker. He wondered how it turned out. He wondered if he'd live to see it.

Tomoe.

Her quiet beauty was the antithesis of this war.

"What's that?" The lieutenant was fully awake now, confronting the messenger.

"Last night." The boy gasped out. "Takasugi ordered an attack on the left flank, from over there." He gestured across the graveyard to the other side of the island. "They cut and ran. Their ships are gone. Ohshima is ours."

The lieutenant's eyes lighted. "Did you hear that?" he shouted. "Ohshima is ours. We've won back our island."

As the soldiers cheered and began to get to their feet, the lieutenant motioned to Kenshin to come over.

"Now that this battle is over, you're to go back to Takasugi. He said he'd be re-assigning you to Katsura when we left the island." The lieutenant's eyes raked across Kenshin's face searchingly, attempting to gauge his reaction, but Kenshin kept his expression carefully blank.

The soldiers' voices swelled as the news spread and more and more of them heard about the victory and reacted. The cheerful babble gave Kenshin an excuse to merely nod in silent agreement to Takasugi's order and walk away, leaving the lieutenant to his celebrating squad members.

o-o-o

Kenshin felt numb. In the end, it was several days before Takasugi was able to return with him to Shimonoseki. There were bodies to be buried, wounded men to be treated, and supply lines established in case the bakufu troops came back.

On June 16 Takasugi took the Year Of The Tiger back to Shimonoseki and walked with Kenshin and several lieutenants to the wealthy merchant's house. Takasugi was still wearing his black haori coat with his family's crest emblazoned on the shoulders. It was creased and stained from battle. He reminded Kenshin of the rumpled looking samurai, Sakamoto Ryoma.

One of the lieutenants reported that the bakufu troops had attacked Choshu's eastern border on the Inland sea. The Choshu army repulsed them with such ferocity that the Tokugawa commander, orchestrating his forces from Hiroshima, called a truce.

Takasugi laughed harshly. "The Tokugawa should just give up. If their own samurai combined with those of Kii province can't beat us, none of them can."

"Well, they're still trying." his lieutenant returned grimly. "Word came today that Murata's forces have engaged the enemy on our northeast border."

"Knowing Murata, he'll be in the bakufu's Hamada castle before they know what hit them." Takasugi sneered. "When will those fools learn that we'll never lose to them? Murata's the best military expert in Japan."

"What about the bakufu forces in Kokura clan's territory?" another lieutenant chimed in worriedly. "Kyushu is only just across the strait from here and word has it that Kokura clan has troops from Kumamoto and Kurume clans helping them man their artillery batteries."

"So what? We've got four ships, and we're not afraid to use them. After the pounding we gave them at Ohshima Island, those bakufu dogs will think twice about sending their ships after us again."

The lieutenants laughed as the party reached the gate. Takasugi gave them their instructions for the day and sent them away, then walked through the gate, followed by Kenshin.

"Takasugi! Kenshin!" Shunme's joyous voice rang out. He jumped down from the porch and came running up to them, meeting them under the maple tree.

"Shunme." Takasugi's narrow eyes crinkled in a smile. "I see you're still alive."

"And you. Katsura's waiting for you. For both of you." Shunme included Kenshin in his smile. He turned and led the way to the mansion, scratching on the door panel, which was opened by the maid, who stepped back to let them in. Kenshin glanced at Shunme as he went by. Usually it was Shunme who was inside, and Kenshin who patrolled the outside. Shunme winked and pulled the door shut.

"Welcome sirs." The maid bowed very low and brought them further inside. She led them past a staircase down a long hallway to a room in the back. Pulling open the partition, she bowed deeply from the waist and let them pass, pulling it shut again after they entered the room.

Katsura was sitting with his back to the toko-no-ma, an alcove set into the side wall. There was a scroll hanging from the ceiling near the top of the alcove with a picture of a cat sitting by a koi pond with fish. The ink brush drawing was delicate, yet humorous, the cat's expression one of assumed innocence. Along the far wall of the room two of the upper window area partitions were open, allowing a breeze from the back garden to enter.

"Welcome." Katsura said, bowing at the waist from where he sat on the tatami mats. Daylight from the open partitions fell on the floor in square patches, one of them illuminating his face as he sat upright again.

Takasugi and Kenshin set their swords at their sides as they sat in front of him, returning the bow.

Smiling, Katsura began. "I've heard of your victory. You've done well."

Takasugi grinned and slumped over to the side into a more comfortable seated position. "Why so formal, Katsura? You knew we'd win. You sent Kenshin here to ensure it, didn't you?" There was a challenge in his voice.

Katsura glanced down at the tatami mat, then back up to meet his gaze. "I wanted to be sure you didn't push yourself too hard."

"I'm dying, Katsura. I'm not dead yet. I don't need a nursemaid. I sent Kenshin ashore to fight."

Katsura didn't blink. "I know. I heard. As you well know, my intelligence gathering network is excellent." he said evenly.

There was a silence, then Takasugi laughed.

Kenshin glanced at him in surprise. Whenever he'd heard Takasugi laugh before it was usually mirthlessly or cynically. When he looked at Katsura to see how he was taking it, he saw that the man was smiling back at his friend.

Noticing Kenshin's regard, Katsura turned to him. "So, Takasugi was being difficult, was he?"

"Not really." Kenshin demurred.

Katsura's mouth twitched, repressing a smile. "You are diplomatic Kenshin. You served Takasugi well, though not in the capacity I'd originally planned."

Kenshin flushed. He'd had to obey Takasugi. The one thing Takasugi had drummed into his head above all during his time at the training camp in the mountains was absolute obedience to the Choshu loyalist military leader. Once Katsura handed him back to Takasugi, that loyalty went back into affect.

Kenshin didn't like to think about what he'd do if Katsura and Takasugi ever turned on each other. Though the way they related to one another spoke of a longstanding friendship not likely to be broken any time soon.

"May I go outside and relieve Shunme?" Kenshin asked, anxious to get back to his normal duties.

Katsura nodded.

Out of habit, Kenshin glanced toward Takasugi who was looking at him speculatively. Takasugi nodded his permission as well, so Kenshin left.

As he pulled the partition shut again behind him, he heard Takasugi's voice saying, "That's fine for now, Katsura, but I may ask to borrow him back again later."

Kenshin strode away before he could hear Katsura's answer.

Back outside, he found Shunme, staring up into the maple tree.

"There's a squirrel up there." Shunme offered, as Kenshin walked up. Kenshin stepped back and craned his neck, spotting the small creature huddled on a branch, its black eyes transfixed for the moment on Shunme. Then it scampered away to the other side of the tree trunk with a flash of its plume-like tail.

Shunme laughed softly. "My daughter loves squirrels, or at least she did the last time I saw her. It's been months now. Children grow very quickly and change when you're not looking."

"Hmm." Kenshin hummed noncommittally.

"You look tired." said Shunme reproachfully. "You haven't been taking care of yourself without me around to look after you." He paused and cocked his head.

Tosa accents. Two men were coming up the street. One voice was familiar. Ryoma.

The gate swung open and Sakamoto Ryoma barged through it, another slightly older man following in his wake.

"Kenshin, Shunme." Ryoma grinned his greeting. "Where's Katsura?"

"He and Takasugi are within; they're waiting for you." Shunme said. "I'll take you both inside."

Ryoma jerked his head at his companion. "This is Kenchiki. He's with me."

The older looking man bowed distractedly and hurried after Ryoma, who was already halfway to the house, waving impatiently at him to come along.

Kenshin caught his breath. When Ryoma waved, he caught sight of the man's hands. His left thumb and index finger were horribly scarred with sword cuts. He was missing part of his thumb's knuckle, and there was a jagged gash in his index finger, pink with healing scar tissue.

It must have happened at the Teradaya Inn. Shunme had never finished telling Kenshin how Ryoma escaped. Judging by the cuts to his hands, Ryoma had a high tolerance for pain if he'd been able to keep gripping a sword with wounds such as those and fight his way out. Kenshin's estimation of the man went up another notch.

Then the three men disappeared into the mansion and Kenshin was left alone on guard duty.

o-o-o

"You're to go with Takasugi." Shunme told Kenshin when he came out of the house about an hour later and jumped down from the porch.

Kenshin looked at him quizzically. He'd just got back and already Katsura was trading him back to Takasugi?

Shunme shook his head in commiseration. "I know, but there's news of the Bakufu's plans. They are going to launch an all-out attack on Choshu by sea the day after tomorrow. We're completely outnumbered. Together, including Kokura, Kumamoto and Kurame clan troops, the bakufu forces number about 20,000. In Shimonoseki there are only about 1,000 Choshu troops ready to defend the port. If we're going to survive, we need to attack by surprise, and destroy the boats they intend to use to invade."

Kenshin nodded slowly. "I'll go, if that's where Katsura wants me to be."

Shunme looked grim. "Ryoma will be taking his ship, The Union, and one of ours, The Koshin Maru to attack the fortifications at Moji inlet. I'll be with Takasugi on The Year Of The Tiger and our other two ships, attacking the other fortifications at Tanoura inlet."

"Why put me on a ship?" Kenshin asked the question that was bothering him about the plan. He was a swordsman, not a sharpshooter or an artillery gunner.

"You won't be, at least not the way you think. You'll be with the landing forces." Shunme grimaced. "I'll be the one rolling on the deck of Takasugi's big old ship getting sea-sick, you'll be in a rowboat. While the warships are attacking the bakufu's fortifications, every rowboat in Choshu will be rowing across the strait to invade Kokura clan's territory. It's a three-way surprise attack. Takasugi will give you the details later."

The door of the mansion opened and Takasugi stepped out on the porch.

"There he is," Shunme observed. He clapped Kenshin on the arm. "Good luck." Nodding to Takasugi, he walked past him up the steps and took up guard position on the porch.

Kenshin blinked in surprise. Shunme had never done that before. For all his friendly banter, he'd never touched Kenshin in a comradely gesture. No one ever did.

"Come on." Takasugi said as he walked toward the gate. Kenshin followed. Back to the war already. When would it end?

END CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

A/N Apologies for the bone-headed error in the last chapter of having Kenshin refer to a hitenmitsurugiryu technique he hadn't learned yet. It's fixed and the reference has now been deleted.

Note to Reviewers:

Crackerjack – Welcome! I solemnly promise to finish this story and not leave you hanging.

A lilmatchgirl – I really liked your old penname too. The '007' made you sound quite daring in a British espionage-ish sort of way. I feel kind of guilty for making Takasugi sound cold when he berated Kenshin. Takasugi was cynical and a bit brusque in the OAV, but nowhere near as much of a jerk as he's turned out to be in my story.

Wyrd – Thanks for your kind thoughts. Fortunately, I think I'm mostly over my cold now. About your guess about Takasugi and the naval battle, the battle in chapter twenty was cribbed directly from historical accounts. I won't be having Kenshin board a bakufu ship to fight, though I did take one scene from the OAV end sequence. He will be traveling in a rowboat to a battle as he did in the OAV in a later chapter. As for Takasugi falling off his horse – I'm not exactly sure when in history that was supposed to have happened. In the OAV it seems like he falls off his horse because he's dying, however the real Takasugi died on April 14, collapsing for the last time while on his way to a Shimonoseki restaurant, and not in the midst of a battle. Like you and Lilmatchgirl, I too loved the part in the OAV when Tomoe's spirit embraces Kenshin. I also think that you shouldn't sell yourself short! Your reviews are insightful and well-written. If you ever do decide to try your hand at a fanfiction story, I'd love to read it.

Ninie – Welcome! Sorry I almost made you late for school, but I'm incredibly flattered that you liked the story to the point where you lost track of time while reading it!

XZig-zagx – Yes, I must admit I really made Takasugi out to be kind of a jerk. Expect more Kenshin trading in this chapter too.

Hitokiri-sama – Welcome! I know, I blew it with the reference to kuzuryusen. I really should have waited to post that chapter until I read volume 11 of the manga which is where Kenshin meets up with Hiko and gets the final training. Glad you liked Takasugi!

LadyRhiyana – Good point about the difference between battle and selected assassinations. In war you have a commanding officer and are part of a squad, not a lone killer making your own decisions. War brings out the best in some people and the worst in others, and Takasugi loses patience in the heat of battle. I figured knowing he was dying may have had an effect on his personal interactions and made him less likely to bother to be caring or understanding. His whole goal was to spend the rest of his life destroying the bakufu, which he pretty much did.

Sailor-Earth13 – War is definitely "hell" as you noted. To prepare for writing the last chapter and the ones to come, I went on the internet and read a few first hand accounts of soldiers who fought in the American Civil War – which took place in roughly the same time period. I love everything about history, and it sounds like you're a history fan too!

Lolopopoki – I'm glad you enjoyed the action scenes. It felt kind of odd putting Kenshin in a battle where he spent most of the time pinned down by enemy fire, but that's really how warfare went in the 1860s. As for the song, don't worry, there are a few more places I still can look to find the registration number for winzip, so I haven't given up hope of hearing it yet!

Misaoshiru – I see you caught my 'kuzuryusen' error too. Sigh. And by the way, no blushing allowed for the review of "Bloodstained" – it was great and you deserve oodles of praise. Thanks too for correcting my mis-spelling of your name. I actually ate miso soup a lot while I was sick with my cold. I figured it had to be healthy, and I found a store that sells instant miso soup packets! By the way, thanks for mentioning Naga's story. I'm enjoying reading my way through it!

BakaBokken – Oh please go ahead and write about the firing of the ships on Ohshima Island in your fiction! I can't take credit for it, it's a well documented historical event so feel free to use it. Or if you prefer, you could write about when the bakufu ships first took over Ohshima because I just referred to it, I didn't place Kenshin or the storyline there at all.

Nekotsuki – Yep, poor Kenshin did get treated more like a commodity than a human being by Takasugi in the OAV and later on in my story. At least in the OAV Katsura worried about him, and asked Tomoe to help him. As for talking to me about history for 'Snowblind', I'd love to help if I can. If you have any questions about history feel free to email me, my address is on my profile. I don't have all that many books about Japanese history at home, but I've learned to use the internet to find answers to questions (thank you Encarta online for confirming that Japan has squirrels!) and I'll try to help you out as best I can.

Kie-san – I agree, war is pretty gross. Since you're reading the 'remembrance' part of the manga right now, I'm curious – is it similar or different to the anime version?


	22. Chapter twentytwo

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Dawn. June 17, 1866. It was the day before the bakufu forces of Kokura, Kumamoto, and Kurume clans stationed on Kyushu Island planned to attack Shimonoseki, invade Choshu and destroy the little province that dared to defy the Tokugawa shogun.

Kenshin stood on the shore in the pre-dawn gloom. He'd skipped his morning sword practice. He'd be using his sword in battle today.

All around him soldiers were picking up their rifles, and stepping into the rowboats massed along the beach, their breath coming out in puffs in the early morning coolness.

Kenshin found a rowboat with an empty space and sat. The last two soldiers in pushed the boat off the beach and into the water, jumping over the side and landing with a thump in back. Those designated as oarsmen dipped their oars in the water and began to row.

The boat swayed forward with the motion of the rowers. The smell of the sea was all around them. Ahead of them a thick bank of fog lay drifting lazily across the strait, partially obscuring the large, broad profile of Kyushu Island, their destination.

The little flotilla of rowboats rowed on.

From his seat, Kenshin could see the five warships of the Choshu fleet moving away from the port, the two steam powered vessels, Ryoma's Union and Takasugi's Year Of The Tiger, leading the way. Soon Takasugi's ship and the two ships behind him cut away from the others and headed toward Tanoura.

Shortly after that, Ryoma's two ships disappeared into the fog.

The men rowed in silence. Surprise was essential. Minutes passed, with only the sound of the oars from other boats around them dipping into the water to let them know they weren't alone on the sea.

Then came the booming of cannons from somewhere up ahead. Ryoma's ship had opened fire.

The fog lifted, the shore was just ahead. Clustered along its banks were hundreds of junks, the low flat ships with broad high sterns, designed for sailing or rowing along the shore. They were to be the transportation for the invasion force.

The soldier in the prow of the boat growled at the sight, and pulled out a torch from under his seat. As they came closer to shore, he echoed the actions of the other lead soldiers in the boats around him and took the lantern off the ship's prow, using it to light his torch.

Then the rowboat bumped against the sand, and soon they were running up the beach. The soldiers with torches paused to toss them over the sides of the enemy junks, before running on.

Bullets whizzed by. Several Choshu men cried out as they fell. Kenshin ignored them and ran on. Soldiers were firing all around him, dropping to the ground at times to avoid the bakufu troops' bullets. However, they always kept getting up and advancing.

The sun was rising, casting a golden glow on the battlefield. Kenshin came to his first enemy soldier. Drawing his sword, he brought it up and under the man's rifle, ripping it out of his hands before thrusting in under the soldier's sternum, piercing his heart.

He ran on, using a variety of cuts, downward, horizontal, forward thrusts, anything to kill, and kill quickly. At one point a bullet tugged at his kimono sleeve. Kenshin whirled and ran at the hapless rifleman, executing him with a downward slash starting at the man's shoulder.

Then he wrenched his sword out of the corpse and moved on.

The Choshu forces were making a V shaped arrow, moving further and further inland, separating the bakufu forces, which fell back in confusion. Kenshin realized that he and a few others were at the head of the V.

Soon they passed the smoking ruins of artillery batteries and barracks that Ryoma's ships' cannon had destroyed. They pressed on to the batteries higher up on the hills.

Kenshin went into his hitokiri battousai mode and ghosted in first, running and hiding, scoping out his enemies, identifying targets who looked like they were commanding the others, and then striking, killing them and those standing nearest them.

He'd mastered the Hiten Mitsurugiryu methods of fighting multiple opponents, and used every skill his master Hiko Seijuro taught him about such situations. Cut. Slash. Thrust. Turn. Keep turning, and keep in mind at all times where each opponent is. Above all, be fast and never lose your grip on your sword.

At one point, he chased an enemy officer into an empty barracks. The man whirled and kicked a discarded bucket in Kenshin's way, thinking that he'd lured Kenshin in and would trip him then kill him. The officer yanked his pistol out of the obi at his waist.

Kenshin avoided the bucket easily by leaping over it, and as his feet came down, so did his sword, through the officer. The man's smug expression turned to shock. The pistol dropped to the ground, and so did he.

As Kenshin was pulling his blade back and out, he sensed a shadow in the doorway behind him.

"Kenshin?"

The word saved Hojo's life as Kenshin stopped his rush forward, sword angled back over his shoulder in preparation for a downward cut. He allowed his blade's tip to lower until it was pointed diagonally toward the floor.

Hojo was staring at the dead body behind Kenshin.

"Yes?"

Kenshin's word snapped Hojo out of his stupor. He shook himself. "I thought I saw you come in here. We have orders to burn the buildings. You should leave." He glanced once again at the corpse, and back at Kenshin. Then he turned and fled.

From the doorway of the barracks building, Kenshin saw that the light blazing away down the hill had nothing to do with the rising sun. The Choshu troops were burning everything in their wake, eradicating any building that the Tokugawa forces had used.

It was an ocean of flames, coming higher and higher up the hills of Kyushu.

Kenshin sighed and ran higher as well, chasing the bakufu forces ever higher, away from the coast and their plans to raid Shimonoseki.

o-o-o

In the end, the bakufu forces were routed. Their remaining troops fled inland, away from the coast, which was burned and blackened in the wake of the battle.

The smell of smoke permeated everything, hair, clothing, even the food tasted smoky. Kenshin remained with the squad he'd been loosely assigned to, hunting down bakufu stragglers, until it was clear there weren't any left.

One day Shunme showed up.

Kenshin was just finished cleaning his sword. The bloodstained sky-itoh, the silk cords wrapped around the rayfish skin covered hilt, had to be replaced, so it took him longer than usual.

He sat on the ground, ignoring the soldiers walking around him until he realized that one of them had stopped directly in front of him.

Raising his eyes, Kenshin saw that it was Shunme.

He looked tired, but happy. There were gunpowder burns on the sleeve of his kimono top, and a raw patch on one cheekbone, where it looked as if he'd hit the deck of Takasugi's vessel with his face, but he didn't seem badly wounded.

"Hello Kenshin."

"Shunme." Kenshin kept his face and voice neutral, but inside he heaved a sigh of relief. Shunme lived. Kenshin was surprised to find that it mattered to him that a man who didn't trust him, who most likely pretended friendship to everyone he met, had survived the battle.

Shunme's eyes twinkled. "You never change, Kenshin. You live through the most glorious victory against the bakufu ever recorded, and you're as calm as a fox in his den." He cocked his head to the side and squinted. "You know, with that hair color, you even look a little like a fox."

Kenshin sighed and got up. He remembered now why he tended to tune Shunme out whenever they were on guard duty together.

"You're a lucky little fox too, getting to fight on land. If I never see another ship in my life it will be too soon for me. Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold a rifle straight when all you want to do is throw up?"

Shunme belly laughed, the joyous ho ho hos causing soldiers all around to look. Blissfully ignoring the fact that he'd become the center of attention, Shunme continued. "The next battle, I'm fighting on land. The sea is for fishes. Men were never meant to fight on boats. It's unnatural. Give me a good land battle any day."

"Why are you here?" Kenshin cut off what looked to be a long diatribe against ships.

"Oh yes, Takasugi's going back to Shimonoseki. The battle here is pretty much over, and we've got cease-fires in effect on our other fronts, so you know what that means." Shunme ended expectantly.

Kenshin simply gave him a look.

"Celebration time! You know, a party! Fun! You remember fun, don't you?" Shunme pursed his lips and stared at Kenshin. "On the other hand, maybe not. Still, it's time you had some. I'm taking you back to Shimonoseki. With Hojo and Oshio fighting here on land with you, and me at sea, Katsura's been guarded by Nakamura and Takahata non-stop. I think he's about ready for a break from them, don't you think?"

"They are both fine swordsmen." Kenshin reminded Shunme. He'd seen them at practice in the inn's courtyard before, though Nakamura usually practiced in order to show up the non-samurai soldiers.

"True," said Shunme, leading the way to the beach. "But are they fine company at a party? I think Nakamura's face would crack and splinter if he ever tried to smile. He never even laughs at my jokes." Shunme grimaced in mock despair.

"I never laugh at your jokes either." Kenshin reminded him. Shunme mustn't know why Nakamura was so sad. It was bad enough that the man lost a woman he loved; he didn't need Shunme rubbing it in.

The older man grinned. "Ah, but with you it's just a matter of time. I'll get you to laugh one of these days, count on it."

END CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Note to reviewers:

Wyrd – I figured being next to a graveyard (sorry for the obvious symbolism there – I can get a bit heavy handed with it at times!) would remind Kenshin of Tomoe's grave marker, and in the uncertainty of battle even one as skilled as he could start to muse about the likelihood of dying in the conflict. As for Shunme, I will be evil and only let you know that all shall be revealed in upcoming chapters. Is he faking friendliness to pull an Iizuka-like betrayal? Is he genuinely a nice guy? You'll have to wait and see! I'm holding you to your promise of telling me if you ever write a fanfiction!

WolfsDaughter - Welcome and thank you! I'm not sure I'll ever write something as LONG as this story again, but I appreciate the encouragement!

Kie-san – The manga sounds great – a chibi battousai face-faulting? This I've got to see! I'm so glad to hear that Kenshin and Tomoe were actually married in the manga – it just didn't make sense that he would go off with her without officially tying the knot. Even as hitokiri battousai, Kenshin had a strong sense of honor. He protected Tomoe when she was a witness and any other assassin would have killed her, and even in the OAV he shuts Iizuka down when he tries to cast aspersions on her. It was really sweet of you to downplay my technical error too. Thanks for that!

Alilmatchgirl – I'm not giving Kenshin much time to introspect I'm afraid. The Choshu campaign was kind of fast and furious until it wound down due to lack of enthusiasm on the bakufu side. You're right about warfare – historically, soldiers have had to develop a 'kill or be killed' mentality, and Takasugi's impending death from TB has made him throw aside conventional politeness to concentrate on his goal and not worry about people's feelings.

Lady Rhiyana – You're welcome for the last chapter, I figured Kenshin was so terribly young when he joined the kihetai and so adrift without Hiko's guidance that he would naturally embrace military training and loyalty/obedience is one of the first thing soldiers learn in boot camp. While at the camp his sole focus would be on pleasing his commanding officer, Takasugi, which is why he'd trust him and go with Katsura when Takasugi asked him.

Misaoshiru – Blush away, because you're a really good writer! I hope you like the next chapter, and you're right about Naga – she(he?) REALLY has to update!

Sailor-Earth13 – Yes! Another history major! History majors rule the world (well, not really, but we should! 'Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them' and all that) Since you're researching the meji era, you have to promise to let me know if I make any glaring errors. Do you like other historical fiction besides Rurouni Kenshin? I love historical mystery novels and I'd be happy to recommend authors to you – like you have any free time for fun reading in college! Just let me know if you're interested.

Lolopopoki – I had fun imagining that scroll! I just wish I was an artist like my brother so I could draw it. Cats are so quirky! I have an enormous cat at home who is an endless source of amusement to me. I hope the funeral rite information I emailed you helped. As for the pyre itself, I think they just piled on the wood, dumped the body on top, and lighted it on fire. When the wood burned up they next gathered up the ashes and bits of bone that were left and stuck them in an urn.

Xzig-zagx – I'm glad you're liking Takasugi. I found him to be irascible, and cynical yet a good friend to Katsura in the OAV. He was also very forward looking and concerned for Katsura's future as a politicians. He knew that if Katsura was directly involved in killing that his political career as a leader in the new Japan would end before it started. I only wish he hadn't seen fit to offer a 15 year old boy as a sort of sacrificial lamb to take the job of killer for the revolution. Still, when faced with Kenshin's obviously awesome skill, there probably simply wasn't anyone else as qualified. What a dilemma! Doubtless Takasugi would have loved to take on the job himself, but his disease scotched that idea. I figured he was probably a little mad at himself for not being able to do the job for Katsura – which would explain why he's so grouchy around Kenshin.


	23. Chapter twentythree

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Kenshin knelt in front of the small bundle of items tied up in a cloth around a conical straw hat. Shunme had ordered his belongings from the inn in Yamaguchi Castletown to be brought to Shimonoseki.

Kenshin and Shunme were joining Nakamura and Takahata in the chamber assigned to the bodyguards in Katsura's merchant friend's mansion. Nakamura and Takahata were being given a much-deserved night off, and were already gone from the room when Shunme told Kenshin to go wash and change.

His bathing and changing done at the bathhouse in the garden, Kenshin returned to find that Shunme was already on duty with Katsura. He set his dirty clothing down, and forced himself to untie the cloth that the innkeeper had used to wrap his things in. He knew what he'd find.

There it was, right on top. Tomoe's scarf. He forced himself to touch it. The pale lavender material was soft, yet strongly woven. It was a good scarf, still useable. The scarf had been washed so the bloodstains were long gone.

It was the only thing he'd taken with him when he'd left the home he'd shared with her, consigning both their house, and her body, to the flames.

He clenched the fabric gently between his fingers. She'd been the only good in his life when he was the hitokiri battousai. It didn't matter that she'd been used by the Bakufu to weaken him; all that mattered was her.

She was the calm stillness in his heart, the memory his weary mind returned to when it needed rest from the horrors around him, despite the fact that the memory came with a price.

He'd killed her.

Love and sorrow. Red petals falling on white snow. Tomoe.

Kenshin drew in a breath and set the scarf back on top of his other few belongings, and retied the bundle. He couldn't afford to feel this. Not now, not in the midst of Choshu's war for survival. He stood and went to go find Shunme.

o-o-o

The party was raucous. From the amount of noise coming from inside, Kenshin figured that Shunme must be celebrating as well. Takasugi, Ryoma, Katsura, and the merchant were all inside, along with a few of Takasugi's men, so Kenshin wasn't too concerned that Shunme was enjoying himself rather than simply guarding.

Despite Shunme's best efforts to include him in the party, Kenshin preferred to patrol outside, though it wasn't much quieter. It seemed as if the whole city was celebrating the victory over the Bakufu troops. By the sound of it, there were at least three other parties going on in the private homes down the street. When he concentrated, he could isolate the noise of each celebration and pinpoint which houses had parties going on.

Pedestrians passed the front gate every few minutes, most of them drunk and singing victory songs. Takasugi left one of his men at the gate to dissuade them from wandering in, so Kenshin was making a circular patrol of the grounds.

Firecrackers, imported from China, were going off in the back garden of a house nearby. Kenshin tried to block out the sounds, as they reminded him too much of gunfire.

"Hey, Kenshin." It was Shunme's voice.

The older samurai was on the porch, waiting for him as he rounded the corner of the mansion.

"Yes?"

"We're running out of sake inside. I'm off to get some more. You want to take inside guard duty until I get back?"

"Of course."

"I won't be long." Shunme jumped off the porch and ran lightly across the yard to the gate. Dodging around Takasugi's soldier with a quick joke, he was out the gate and out of sight in seconds, running with considerable control for someone who'd been at a drinking party.

Kenshin walked through the open door partition, shut it behind him, slipped out of his zori sandals, and made his way down the hall to the reception room at the back of the house.

At the doorway, he saw that an older maidservant had just exited. She knelt in the hallway, and reached into the room to retrieve a black lacquer tray, shaped like a small table. She set it down in the passageway, and pulled the door partition shut behind her. Then she grasped the tray and rose to her feet.

Kenshin passed her in the passageway and saw that the tray contained empty dishes and sake jugs. A lot of sake jugs.

He opened the partition and stepped into the room. His eyes automatically scanned the room for possible threats, sizing up each man as a possible opponent, though he knew they were all friends.

Katsura, Takasugi, and Ryoma were clustered at the far end, Ryoma half lying, half sitting, laughing uproariously, obviously drunk. The merchant who owned the house lay in a stupor by the open window partition across the room.

Takasugi was cross-legged, smiling sardonically at whatever it was Ryoma had said. Even Katsura, seated with his back once again to the toko-no-ma alcove with the cat drawing in it, was laughing, his cheeks and eyes flushed.

At the other side of the room, Takasugi's men were even worse for wear, falling over and trying to finish each other's sentences.

Kenshin moved inside, shutting the partition behind him, and quietly sat with his back to the wall by the door, setting his sword parallel to his legs at his left side, for ease of drawing it should he need to.

Katsura's eyes registered Kenshin's presence, and blinked, but quickly went back to listening to Ryoma's story. Takasugi looked like he was barely holding on to consciousness by force of will, his eyes glittering with the effort. From the room next door the constant twanging of a moon guitar and the boom of a drum showed that the merchant had thoughtfully provided music for the party before passing out.

Kenshin tried to tune out the noise and keep his eyes on the people. He didn't know Takasugi's men personally so he mainly focused on them, keeping their hands in sight at all times.

A shadow fell against the frame of the window partition. Kenshin grabbed his sword, rose to his feet and began to cross the room. There was a furious burst of fireworks from the garden a few houses down.

Ryoma sat up as Katsura and Takasugi turned their heads toward the open window partition, to look at the bright lights winking in the sky.

As they did, Kenshin's brain separated another burst of sound from the blast of the fireworks just as a sharp tug came on his kimono sleeve.

Bullet.

Kenshin immediately looked at where the trajectory led, and saw a hole in the tatami mat where the bullet's flight ended. It was right where Ryoma had just been.

Bending his knees, Kenshin used the coiled strength in his legs to launch himself at Ryoma, hitting the man in the chest and carrying him flat to the floor as another two gunshots rang out, the bullets passing over his back and head to smack two more holes into the wall by the toko-no-ma alcove.

By now, Katsura realized something was wrong. He ducked, instincts developed during his years of hiding out from the Shinsengumi in Kyoto reasserting themselves. Takasugi was already flat on the floor, his body recognizing the sound of gunshots before his mind did. Takasugi's soldiers were cursing and struggling to their feet.

Kenshin saw the shadow at the window pull back. Gripping his sword's sheath, he pushed himself upright and off of a winded Ryoma, and ran at the window.

The open square was large enough, so he crossed his arms in front of his face and launched through it, hitting the ground in a roll. The back garden sported a red flowering shrub directly behind that particular window, and Kenshin hit it head on, the pliant branches easing and softening his landing. The smell of mashed vegetation filled his nostrils as he rolled on impact.

In seconds he was on his feet, glancing around. A dark figure was disappearing over the back fence. Kenshin followed, pulling himself over the barrier one handed, his other hand gripping his sheath. Master Hiko's cardinal rule had been, never lose your sword.

A man, dressed in black hakama and gi style top, was disappearing around the corner at the end of the next row of houses. There was something familiar about the way he moved.

Kenshin ran afterward. He caught up to the man at the next crossroads. The would-be assassin had chosen a dead end and was doubling back.

Kenshin drew his sword as he ran, and made it to the center of the crossroads just as the man came up to it.

Fireworks burst above in the sky, the light splashing down on the crossroads, revealing the face of the man Kenshin had been chasing.

It was Nakamura.

END CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

A/N OK, how many of you thought it was going to be Shunme? I hope I managed to surprise someone at least! It's hard to not be predictable.

Note to reviewers:

Wyrd – I LOVE 'The Last Samurai'! (though if they were intending to model the story off Saigo Takamori's real life last samurai revolt, they got the story way wrong!) It's a terrific story, and Tom Cruise was really believable as a gormless American having to adapt to Japanese culture – though I don't think anyone could learn kenjutsu as quickly as he did in the movie! As for Shunme…you'll just have to wait and see if he really is just a harmless goofball, or something…more.

Kasifya – I like foxes too – they're so cute. As for the conversation between Nakamura and Shunme…you'll have to wait and see what happens in the next chapter - which will be longer than this one, I promise

WolfDaughter – I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and you don't have to say anything, I'm just happy you're still reading it.

LadyRhiyana – Oh yes, Shunme has hidden depths, and you'll see them soon. As for the levity, Shunme's going to keep trying, but only time will tell if he'll be successful or not.

XZig-zagx – Glad you liked the battle and Shunme and Kenshin's reunion. Kenshin needs someone like Shunme to lighten things up!

Misaoshiru – You'll learn more about Shunme in the next chapter, and I hope it's at least a bit of a surprise!

Lolo popoki – As you can see, Kenshin ditched the party so Shunme wasn't able to harass him. You're welcome for the info., and I'd love a link to the cat and koi pond picture!

Alilmatchgirl – Ah, you caught that Hojo was a little freaked by how easily Kenshin killed the enemy soldier in the barracks. You're right, Hojo would have been in the midst of battle too, but being so new to actual battle, I decided to make him still capable of being shocked by Kenshin's skill in killing. As for the story being over soon – I've got 27 chapters planned, so it's getting close to the end.

Nekotsuki – Sorry about the 'hitokiri battousai' line. It's a mental block I have, I can't think of the one word without the other, and to me it brings up that whole assassin lifestyle Kenshin was forced to live in Kyoto. Looking forward to more "Snowblind"!


	24. Chapter twentyfour

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Nakamura stood frozen in the shadows of the buildings lining the opening of the road he'd doubled back on. The dead end road terminated in the high stone back wall of a temple, and Nakamura's dark figure stood out against the pale stones like an ink drawing on a beige scroll.

Kenshin stood in the center of the crossroads, gripping his sword. He'd nearly dropped it when he realized he'd been chasing Nakamura, but Master Hiko's teachings remained true. Never lose your sword.

The night seemed to quiet around them. Silence stretched on until Kenshin broke it with a question.

"Why?"

Still holding the revolver he'd used in his right hand, Nakamura sneered. "What would you understand? A mere boy, not even a samurai. What would you know of honor?"

"Is it honorable to try to kill a man you've sworn to protect?" From the path Nakamura's bullets had taken, Kenshin knew that Ryoma was the target, not Katsura, but he wanted to hear it.

"Katsura?" Nakamura seemed genuinely astonished that Kenshin would think of such a thing. Astonishment turned to anger. "I would give my life for Katsura. I swore an oath to protect him! It's Ryoma who's deceived Katsura. Ryoma deserves to die."

"Why?"

Kenshin kept one eye on the gun Nakamura held at his side. Nakamura's grip tightened on it, but he didn't raise it. There were also the two swords secured in the obi at his waist to worry about, but Nakamura's right hand was presently occupied with the gun, so the swords weren't the immediate threat.

"It's Ryoma's fault we've allied with those Satsuma dogs. My brother died because of them. Did his death mean nothing? I will never forgive them for that. Katsura should remember his death, and the deaths of the Choshu loyalists who died with him." Nakamura's voice became progressively more ragged with emotion. It was like watching a house shaken to rubble in an earthquake. Kenshin decided to try to reason him back to equilibrium.

"Your brother died in battle, honorably." It was a guess, but judging by Nakamura's highly stringent standards, Kenshin doubted that his older brother was the sort of man who'd run away during a conflict. "What you want is murder for revenge."

It was the wrong choice. Kenshin should have remembered that Nakamura did not react well to being challenged.

The older man's lips twisted in a snarl, and he immediately began to raise his gun. Whether he meant to fire or not became a moot point as Kenshin's instincts, honed by days of battling men with guns, kicked in.

Instead of running for cover, he used his speed to run forward, bringing his sword down in a diagonal cut. He managed to pull the strike zone back a few inches, so the blade missed Nakamura's wrist.

There was a loud 'clank' as the metal of the katana met the steel of the revolver.

Nakamura cursed as the gun was ripped from his hand. It landed several feet away and went skidding into the shadows of the street leading off to the left. In the darkness Kenshin heard it strike against the side of an empty shop and lay still.

His eyes never left Nakamura, so he saw the man's expression change from rage to calculation. Nakamura leapt back, drawing his sword as he went so that when he landed, it was out at the ready, pointed straight toward Kenshin in a classic defensive stance.

"So, boy, is Ryoma so important to you that you'll fight me to avenge him?" Anticipation gleamed in Nakamura's eyes. He wanted to fight, craved it in fact.

From down the street behind him, Kenshin made out the sound of footsteps, running lightly and quickly, pausing at times as though the runner was stopping and looking for something.

Kenshin took a step back and lowered his sword. "I am Katsura's protector, not Ryoma's. Just do not try to kill Ryoma again."

Nakamura's mouth went slack in shock. This was not the reaction he'd expected from Kenshin.

"Hey!"

Hearing Shunme's voice, Kenshin drew back another step and quickly resheathed his sword.

Shunme ran up and stopped midway between the two, glancing curiously at each of them. "Did you find the assassin?"

"No." answered Kenshin quickly. "We are still looking." As he ended his sentence, he looked at Nakamura, whose sword was now lowered, willing him to take the hint. The man's angular face was full of shadows, but Kenshin thought he saw his eyes widen. Nakamura remained silent, so Kenshin went on. "Go ahead. We'll take the side streets."

It wasn't like Kenshin to give orders. Shunme's face quirked in puzzlement, but he nodded and took the side street leading away from the crossroads. Kenshin took a few steps to his right to watch Shunme begin to jog away.

As he did, he heard a growl of rage coming from behind him. Without having to look, he could sense the path Nakamura's sword was making. At this distance there was no time to disarm, only to strike.

So he did, pivoting on his right foot, drawing his sword up, out of the sheath and above his head, he straightened his arm even as he turned his shoulders to avoid Nakamura's blade, which passed close enough that he felt the wind of it along his chest as he leaned away.

Nakamura, feeling his sword strike air instead of flesh, planted his left foot and immediately began to swing his sword, hassaki (sharp) edge up, toward Kenshin's torso, angling for a gap between his ribs.

Kenshin finished his pivot and brought the sword down two-handed across Nakamura's back as the man tried to eviscerate him.

It was a clean, diagonal strike, severing the spinal cord and vital organs in the torso. Nakamura was dead as he hit the ground.

Kenshin stared down at the body, numb.

He heard Shunme run up behind him.

"I wondered when that would happen." Shunme said expressionlessly. "It was inevitable, you know."

"Why?" Kenshin realized he was asking that question a lot this night. "Why was it inevitable? I would have let him go."

He saw that Shunme was giving him an odd look. He flushed, and continued. "He was aiming for Ryoma, not Katsura. If he promised to leave Ryoma alone, no one would known but me."

Shunme looked back down at the body. "Yes, you're good at keeping secrets, aren't you, Kenshin?" One side of his mouth lifted in a half smile, which faded quickly as he looked back at the young fighter.

"He would have known. He would have known that you knew. A man like Nakamura, eaten up with hatred and jealousy…Some men just can't take pity, especially from someone who's superior to them."

"Superior? I'm no samurai." What did Shunme mean? Nakamura made it clear every time they met who was topmost on the social scale, and few people in Choshu knew that he'd once been Katsura's top assassin.

"I meant superior with a sword." Shunme continued gently. "Kenshin, I'm not the only one who noticed that you practice alone. There are only two reasons for a swordsman to do that. One, he's self-conscious about his lack of ability so he wants to get better in private, and two, he's so advanced that he doesn't want to discourage others, or give away his secret techniques."

Kenshin opened his mouth to protest that the only reason he trained in private in the fields was because that was how Master Hiko trained him. Hiko's house wasn't big enough to practice inside.

Shunme raised his hand to stop him. "People envy you, Kenshin. You're Katsura's top bodyguard. He doesn't need to give you a title, everyone knows it."

Blinking, Kenshin digested this information. He stared at Shunme. He had to know. "Do you envy me?"

Now it was Shunme's turn to be taken aback. He paused, then grinned slowly. "Maybe a little, at first." The grin faded into seriousness. "Until I realized what it cost you."

Kenshin went completely still, reading the knowledge in Shunme's eyes.

"Tomoe."

He said her name out loud. How? Shunme knew, but how?

Only one person in Choshu knew the whole story. That was Katsura.

"You're not just a bodyguard, are you?" he asked the older man, who was gazing at him with more candor than he'd ever had before.

"No." Shunme crossed his arms and explained.

"Takasugi loaned me to Katsura to head up his spy network. I posed as a bodyguard so I could be with him without anyone knowing my real purpose."

He sighed tiredly and went on. "There's a spy in Choshu. It's my job to suspect everyone. When I was assigned to move a group of our loyalists, I saw you coming from the street of the stonecutters in Kyoto. The Shinsengumi found us soon after, and you fought them off singlehandedly as we fled. It seemed like an odd coincidence. I knew you were a good swordsman, but I was supposed to believe you stopped an entire squad by yourself. I was suspicious. I went to Katsura and reported that you might be the bakufu spy we've been looking for. He had to tell me the whole story."

Shunme glanced at the ground, struggling with what to say next, then looked back at Kenshin. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Kenshin was silent. If Shunme knew about Tomoe, then how many other people's secrets did he know? He decided to test his theory. Nakamura was dead now. There was no point in trying to protect him any longer.

"Tamako." He spoke the name softly, as he had Tomoe's name.

Shunme nodded, stealing a glance at the body at his feet. "I knew about her. I questioned the maidservant, Midori, so I knew you knew about his concubine too. Midori was quite impressed with the young stranger who helped her carry her water bucket home." A slight smile wafted across Shunme's face, then faded as it was replaced by a quizzical look. "You knew about Tamako, yet you never used that information against Nakamura. I found that…curious."

"You questioned Midori?" Kenshin heard his voice go sharp. 'Questioned' was often a euphemism for torture.

Reacting to the sharpness, Shunme raised his hands. "Not like that! I just struck up a conversation with her. Tamako came from a family of known Bakufu sympathizers. I was keeping my eye on her because of that and her connection with Nakamura. I kept baiting him, hoping he'd let something slip about her or the political views she might be feeding him, but he never did. Though I searched, I never found any proof that she was giving him directions from the Bakufu forces, but after tonight…"

Kenshin felt very weary. "Nakamura wasn't after Katsura," he told Shunme. "He tried to kill Ryoma. He blamed him for the Satsuma/Choshu alliance. The alliance is set. It's too late to stop it, so there's no point in the bakufu killing Ryoma now."

Kenshin shook Nakamura's blood off his sword, wiped it, and sheathed it. He lifted his chin and stared into Shunme's face. "Your spy, whoever he is, is still out there."

o-o-o

Shunme and Kenshin took Nakamura's body home to the mansion. Shunme grasped the shoulders and Kenshin the legs. When he'd been the hitokiri battousai, others were assigned to clean up the bodies he'd killed. Back then, he'd considered them garbage, and it had been easy to distance himself from the consequences.

No more. Nakamura's body was all too real and too heavy to ignore. They placed it in a shed at the edge of the merchant's garden.

Shunme left Kenshin to go report to Katsura.

Kenshin washed the blood off his hands and returned to the room assigned to the bodyguards. He dreaded telling Takahata what had happened, but when he entered the room it was empty.

'Takahata must still be out celebrating the victory' he thought, and sank down on the tatami mat by his bundle of belongings.

Then he realized Takahata's bundle was gone. Kenshin rose up on his knees to check. Nakamura's belongings lay by the side of the wall, but Takahata's were missing.

They weren't in the cupboard where the sleeping futons were stored either.

Takahata.

He was a short, scrawny shadow of a man, constantly at Nakamura's side. He'd been completely over awed by the larger, socially superior samurai from his hometown of Iwakuni. Or had he?

Kenshin remembered the numerous times he'd seen Nakamura and Takahata speaking together. Nakamura holding forth, giving his opinions as if they were ordained by the sun goddess Amaterasu herself, and Takahata listening, agreeing, and nodding sycophantically.

That's what it looked like, but who knew how much Takahata influenced Nakamura's opinions and emotions? When his lover died, Nakamura changed. He'd been inconsolable, quiet, vulnerable, and angry. To take advantage of someone's grief like that, to talk them into doing something dishonorable was unthinkable.

To take advantage of someone in that way was…

It was what the bakufu spymasters had done to Tomoe.

Kenshin realized that his hands were clenched. He was shaking.

With a deliberate effort, he relaxed his fingers, and realized the extent of his hatred toward Takahata.

The rage was so unexpected, so overwhelming, that he didn't know what to do with it. He despised the man with every ounce of his being, and felt the bile of it rise in his throat.

"Kenshin?" Shunme's voice came from the doorway, questioning.

Kenshin turned.

"Where's Takahata?" Shunme asked as he stepped through the doorway.

"Gone."

Shunme stopped short. His eyes widened then narrowed as he assimilated the information and came to the correct conclusion, much faster than Kenshin had.

"How long ago?" He asked crisply. This was Shunme the intelligence expert, eyes sharp, body relaxed yet gathered for action, like a cat ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

Kenshin shrugged, not trusting his voice.

"I'll tell Katsura." The older samurai disappeared through the doorway silently.

Kenshin stared down at the tatami mat, memorizing the woven pattern. The rage churned inside him. Takahata caused Nakamura's downfall, and thus his death. Takahata deserved to die.

In all his assignments, Kenshin never felt rage or hatred toward his victims. He hadn't known or cared what specific reason Katsura had for ordering their deaths. It was his job, and he did it, coldly and without emotion.

He swallowed, forcing the rage away, returning his mind to the calm, dispassionate watchfulness of a killer on assignment. The hitokiri battousai was back.

END CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Note to Reviewers:

MiptheDemonFox – Welcome! Next chapter is up and ready. Hope you like it.

WolfDaughter – I know, I'm evil to end on a cliffhanger, but at least you only had to wait a few days for the next chapter.

Wyrd – Kenshin as 'Designated Bodyguard'? You're right though, leave it to Kenshin to be the responsible one! I'm so happy I surprised you! My tricky little plot devices always seem so obvious to me when I'm writing them. I agree with you about "The Last Samurai" – spectacular movie indeed. I'm glad you noticed the scarf. (Actually, now that I think about it, he probably should have been wearing Tomoe's scarf the whole time as he did during the ending montage of the OAV, but it worked better for the purposes of my story for it to be too much of a painful reminder to wear yet)

Conspirator – Sorry for the cliffhanger, it's all part of my nefarious plan to be sure everyone keeps reading until the end. Say "Hi" to Co-conspirator for me!

Hitokiri-sama – I hope Nakamura redeems himself in this chapter somewhat (well, up until the part where he tries to kill Kenshin, anyhow). At least he didn't betray Katsura!

Sailor-Earth13 – Yea! I surprised someone! I wasn't sure I would. You're right, things are indeed coming to a head – only three more chapters to go. Unless of course I add a 28th chapter as a sappy epilogue, but mostly epilogues do more harm than good. End a story too finally, tie up too many loose ends, and there's no chance for a sequel.

Alilmatchgirl – Kenshin would have loved to capture Nakamura alive, and even let him go free so long as he promised to behave himself but Nakamura being Nakamura….sigh. Those self-destructive personality types always end badly.

Nekotsuki – Glad you liked the part about the bullet. Since fighting in the Choshu war, Kenshin has had to become an expert fast!

XZig-zagx – I'm so happy I surprised you! I've been trying like mad to throw red herrings around to put people off without being obvious about it. Glad to know I succeeded a little.

BakaBokken – I'm glad you're back! I hope college isn't keeping you too busy to write. Give those little plot bunnies a carrot for me, and let me know how the idea for the Ohshima plot is going. I want to read it when it's done!

Lolopopoki – Hey, I got the two cat and koi pond pictures. Thanks so much! And my color printer even decided to work that day so I was able to print them! Sorry about not letting Kenshin have fun at the party, though getting blitzed never really seemed to be his style. As my reviewer Wyrd pointed out, Kenshin is more the 'designated driver' type than the 'party animal' type. At least he's more laid back by the time the "Rurouni Kenshin" anime series rolls around!


	25. Chapter twentyfive

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Takahata was nowhere to be found. Shunme scoured the docks, and set up watchers to intercept him should Takahata try to buy passage out of Choshu on a ship. He also had people watching the roads leading away from Shimonoseki. Kenshin knew this because Shunme began confiding in him.

Usually when Shunme was away on 'errands' for Katsura, he never told Kenshin what he was up to, but now that Kenshin knew Shunme's other job was intelligence gathering, this changed.

"It's been three days."

Shunme was lying on the tatami mat next to where Kenshin was sitting on his knees in the room set aside for the guards. The man's arm lay over his eyes, and his body spoke of the exhaustion of the past few days. Hojo and Oshio had been recalled from Takasugi's forces to take Nakamura and Takahata's place as alternate bodyguards. They were on duty, so the room was empty of everyone but Shunme and Kenshin.

"I'm beginning to think he slipped out of town before I could set up my watchers." Shunme groaned and sat up. "If Takahata is still here, he won't leave easily."

Kenshin nodded curtly. He'd been roaming the streets of Shimonoseki also on his off duty hours. There was no sign of the poisonous little man who'd brought Nakamura to his doom.

"You want to go get a drink?" Shunme asked suddenly.

"Thank you, but no." Kenshin answered. Perhaps Takahata was hiding at a friend's home. That would explain why he hadn't ventured out for food or other supplies.

Shunme sighed. "You're too serious, Kenshin. We'll find Takahata. It's only a matter of time."

That's what Kenshin was afraid of, that Shunme would find Takahata first, depriving Kenshin of the chance to kill the man himself.

"We might not be here for much longer." Shunme lay back down on the mat, propping himself up on his elbows and surveying his toes. "Word has it that the Tokugawa commander in Hiroshima is getting fed up with the war. Even with the shogun's personal samurai and a contingent from Kii Han, he hasn't been able to stop us. They say their forces are running low on everything from food to ammunition. Their soldiers haven't been paid, and they're starting to complain." He lay back fully on the ground and stared up at the ceiling. "If he retreats, like the rumors say, we'll advance, and we'll win."

"Rumors from your spies?" Kenshin hadn't meant to speak, or to allow the bitterness into his voice.

Shunme sat up, concern in his eyes. "Yes, my spies. Merchants who travel through that area. Shopkeepers who keep an ear open when Tokugawa troops talk while buying things. Tavern owners. Servants in the inns where troops are staying. Those type of spies, not the type who stab their best friend in the back."

The reminder of Takahata's perfidy lay between them in that statement.

Shunme broke off and stared past Kenshin at something only he could see. His voice lowered. "Though I have to admit, it would make my life a lot easier if I had a spy in the Tokugawa forces' central command at Hiroshima. Nearly all of them gave their personal oath of allegiance to the shogun, so that's just not going to happen." The regret in his voice was palpable.

Kenshin closed his eyes. What with guard duty and prowling his way around the streets of Shimonoseki at night, he hadn't had much sleep the past three days. He didn't want to care about Shunme's problems as chief spymaster for Katsura. He didn't want to hear about it, yet something kept him in the room, allowing Shunme to vent his frustrations.

It was odd, in a way, to realize that he was seeing the true Shunme, the one with lightning quick intellect hidden under a genial, laughing demeanor. Shunme once said he laughed so that he wouldn't forget how to seem normal for his family when he returned home. Had that been a lie?

"When?" Kenshin asked at last.

"When what?" Shunme's voice echoed his puzzlement.

"When will we have to leave?"

"Ah Kenshin, you and your one track mind. Even if we leave tomorrow, my watchers will still be in place. They'll catch Takahata. You'll see."

o-o-o

Actually, it was the end of June when the Tokugawa forces in Hiroshima began to pull back from the eastern border. Katsura and Takasugi threw all the forces they could spare into chasing the retreating bakufu troops all the way back to their stronghold.

The retreat was less spectacular than the one on the Kokura coast where Takasugi's forces had routed the Bakufu forces by burning everything in their wake. There was, however, sporadic skirmishing as the Bakufu troops pulled away. Takasugi, with Katsura's blessing, claimed both Kenshin and Shunme and added them to the Choshu contingent sent to chase the Bakufu out of their territory.

They were loosely assigned to a squad of soldiers who were ordered to protect the artillery unit advancing slowly towards Hiroshima. The few cannons the Choshu clan owned were more precious than gold to Takasugi, and he protected them accordingly.

It was hot. The short summer rainy season was long gone, as was the cooling rain that lingered in its wake. Now the air was hot and oppressive, and the only moisture to be found was trickling down the foreheads and backs of the men cursing and wrestling their heavy artillery weapons along the road.

Kenshin and Shunme marched along before the squad, scouting for any bakufu snipers left behind to harry the advancing Choshu forces. Kenshin killed three in the first day, Shunme two, though death had come for their victims in very different ways.

That night, as they camped by the roadside with the other men, Kenshin stared curiously while Shunme cleaned his new favorite weapon, a Spencer Carbine.

The gun was one of those purchased with Ryoma's help from Thomas Glover, an arms merchant in Nagasaki. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Shunme pulled the tube-like cartridge containing the weapon's bullets out of the back of the wooden stock, and checked it.

Evidently pleased with it, the round faced samurai stuck it back inside the flat shaped wooden stock, and turned the gun upside down. With a quick, practiced motion, he pulled on a metal lever attached to the underside of the stock to open the weapon, and proceeded to wash and oil the open metal portion inside.

Kenshin looked away. He would never use one of those things. Shunme told him that the Spencer Carbine could kill seven men in half a minute, depending on the shooter's accuracy. What struck Kenshin as wrong was that the victims could be killed from afar.

At least with a sword, death came face to face with at least a chance of defending oneself and resisting it. Even one as proficient in the Hiten Mitsurugiryu style such as Kenshin might one day die at the hands of a superior swordsman, battling face-to-face and skill-to-skill.

His memory drifted to that time in Kyoto where he'd fought a tall, deadly member of the Shinsengumi to an impasse. The man had the eyes of a wolf, only partially concealed by the strands of hair escaping from his samurai's topknot. What was it the younger one had called him? Saito?

"Kenshin."

He looked up at the sound of his name to find Shunme smiling at him, the gun across his legs closed now and the cleaning supplies put away.

"Your thoughts are far away tonight."

"I was thinking of the past." said Kenshin slowly.

Shunme's eyes immediately clouded. "I'm sorry. I…"

Realizing that Shunme thought he was speaking of Tomoe, Kenshin spoke to reassure him. "No, not that. Kyoto. The Shinsengumi I fought there."

The man's face rose again in his memory, as did the face of the younger boy, Okita, who he'd fought initially. He remembered the way the older man, Saito, stepped in to protect Okita when the boy began to cough up blood during the fight.

Okita's response had been part annoyance and wounded adolescent pride, and part hero worship. He wondered where those two were now. There were rumors that Kondo Isami, leader of the Shinsengumi, had been raised to samurai status by the shogun himself. If he were part of the shogunal samurai contingent sent to Choshu, perhaps the other two…?

Shunme chuckled softly, breaking into Kenshin's thoughts. "I should thank those Shinsengumi. If it hadn't been for them, I'd never have gone to Katsura about you and I'd probably still be suspecting you of being a bakufu spy."

"And now?"

Shunme blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Do you trust me?"

A genuinely bewildered look crossed Shunme's face. "Why wouldn't I?" He asked simply.

Kenshin lowered his eyes and spoke softly to the ground. "I heard you and Kurata speaking back in Kyoto. You didn't trust me then." Kenshin waited expectantly.

He hadn't meant to reveal so much, or ask so much of Shunme. Something about the night, sitting by the campfire's light, with the artillery men moving and talking around them in the background seemed to encourage confidences.

Shunme was quiet for a moment, then began to speak. "Kenshin, back then I didn't know the whole story. It's my job to suspect everyone. But I don't suspect you anymore. So yes, I trust you."

Kenshin glanced up to find Shunme gazing at him steadily, honestly, without the habitual teasing good-humored glint in his eyes.

"In case you didn't realize it," Shunme went on. "I consider you a friend."

Kenshin blinked. "Thank you, Shunme." he said formally, at last.

The irrepressible humor that was part and parcel of Shunme rose to the surface. He grinned. "Good, now that that is settled, I will prove to you how much I trust you by allowing you to take first watch."

Shunme turned, and rummaged in his pack to find his bedding, and began to cheerfully unroll it by the fire. "I trust you to protect me from bakufu troops, stray shinsengumi, bed bugs, and Inui out looking for an evening snack." he ended, referring to one of the artillerymen who was notorious for eating his own food then scrounging leftovers from everyone else in the squad. "I don't want to wake up in the morning to find Inui has chewed off one of my toes, so you be sure you stay awake, alright?" Shunme grimaced at Kenshin in mock severity.

"Yes."

At Kenshin's assent, Shunme grinned, rolled under his blanket and settled down for the night.

Kenshin turned his back to the fire and stared out at the darkened tree line surrounding their campsite, regaining his night vision. The fire warmed his back, but no more than the memory of Shunme's words warmed him inside.

Friend.

Shunme called him a friend. This time, Kenshin believed it.

o-o-o

The artillery pounded in migraine producing monotony. Kenshin hung back watching the six men teams load and fire their cannons. These cannons were black in color, not like the bronze ones he'd seen on Takasugi's ship.

The canon directly in front of him, a long cast iron cylinder seated on a wheeled wooden carriage platform, was being loaded with quick efficiency by its team.

One man handed the ammunition, a cone shaped metal object tapering at the rear into seven raised ridges, to a second man, who placed it carefully in the mouth of the cannon. As soon as his hands left it, a third man on the other side of the cannon took a stick-like object and rammed it down the cannon's mouth. Another man fussed at the base of the cannon, stepping back to allow still another to stick something that looked like a brass tube in a vent at the base, and grab hold of the lanyard, the piece that when pulled, ignited the primer and propelled the cone shaped object out of the mouth of the cannon.

The gunner, the member of the team responsible for aiming and giving the command to fire, waited patiently in the rear.

In a short while, the cannon fired, shooting its deadly load at some trees at the base of a hill many yards away where a squad of straggling bakufu soldiers were holed up.

Kenshin looked away, not wanted to see the splinters of wood, shrub, and human bodies thrown up in the air at the point of impact.

White clouds of smoke drifted around the base of the cannons, their acrid smell filling the hot June afternoon air.

He wondered how Shunme, who'd left on a scouting mission with some other soldiers, was faring. Kenshin and the rest of the squad were ordered to stay behind in case some of the Bakufu snipers tried to sneak up from behind and shoot at the artillerymen.

The Bakufu forces may have been retreating to Hiroshima, but they left behind several men to do what damage they could to slow the approaching Choshu forces.

"Hey, you!"

An officer, one of the nameless, bossy individuals who barked orders like Murata, without consideration or politeness, rode up on a chestnut horse and stopped before Kenshin.

The man glared around, pulling his restless animal into a few backward steps before getting the horse under control. "Where's your rifle?" he barked.

"I don't have one."

The man squinted through the receding smoke of the last cannon's fire. "Right. You're that one."

Kenshin wondered what the man had been told about him, then dismissed the thought as the horseman continued.

"There's word that a group of soldiers may be sneaking around the next village trying to circle behind us." The man nodded to the northwest of their position, still needing both hands on the reins to control the nervous beast beneath him. "They were seen moving that way. You're to go check it out."

Kenshin nodded, but the man was already wheeling his horse around and cantering away.

o-o-o

Blessed quiet.

As he melted into the surrounding forest, finding a track that led northwest, Kenshin heaved a silent sigh of relief to be away from the relentless pounding sounds of the artillery at his back. The more he was around the western style weapons, the more he disliked them.

He found the first bakufu soldier just outside the village the officer spoke of. He was stealing quietly uphill into the trees when Kenshin saw him. He waited for the man to come close then leapt from the top of the hill down on him, allowing gravity to add force to his blow as his sword cleaved the man through from head to torso before the bakufu soldier could do more than draw breath to cry out.

There were three more, just emerging from behind the first outlying hut of the village. Those three were able to scream briefly as Kenshin ran between them, his blade flashing as he took them down with torso cuts, ignoring the rifles in their hands. Not that they'd had time to raise or aim them anyhow.

He slowed and stopped, shaking then wiping his blade before resheathing it, then turning around to gaze dispassionately at the bloody corpses at his feet.

Guns or swords, the soldiers were just as dead. Why should he care how he killed, as long as he killed bakufu troops and helped bring an end to the corrupt Tokugawa regime? Yet he did care, and he would not trade his sword for one of Shunme's carbines for all the rice in Japan.

A gasp caused Kenshin to whirl and place his hand on his sword hilt.

A middle-aged woman in a tan and white kimono with her hair tied back in a kerchief stood by the front of the hut, her hand over her mouth and her eyes wide as she took in the dead bodies.

Kenshin lowered his hand from his sword.

"Are you…? Are you with…?" The woman stammered and looked again at the bodies.

"Choshu." Kenshin answered her shortly. This village was right on the border of Choshu, the area the bakufu soldiers stationed in Hiroshima had invaded. The woman's loyalty would be to her Han, Choshu.

"Oh." Relief began to edge out the horror in the woman's eyes. She collected herself and bowed. "Thank you very much for saving our village."

Kenshin blinked. He hadn't realized that she would see it that way. He wondered exactly how badly the bakufu troops had behaved when they'd invaded the area.

From the huts behind hers, peasants began to poke their noses out of doorways, curious to see what had happened to the men who'd screamed so briefly.

"I am Suzuyo. Did you happen to see where the other Choshu soldier went?"

"Other soldier?" Kenshin's eyes narrowed.

Not noticing his reaction, and glancing abstractedly back and forth between him and the bodies, the woman continued, nodding. "Yes, he came to our village several days ago. He spoke with a Choshu accent. He said he wanted to fight the bakufu soldiers so badly that he'd come on ahead of the army. He seemed most disappointed that they'd already gone. If he hadn't sprained his ankle on the road I think he'd be chasing after them yet."

She laughed quickly, then stopped herself, fighting tears of hysteria. "He had such determination for such a small man."

Already thinking of ways to extricate himself from the talkative woman and be on his way, Kenshin paused and listened to what the woman just said.

"How small?" he asked, forcing his voice to lose the edge of sharpness he felt rising within, along with his predator instincts.

"Hmm? Oh, about this high." The woman raised her hand about five feet above the ground. "And scrawny looking too, like a hound dog that hasn't eaten enough." She bit her lip, and bowed her head. "I'm sorry. That was a rude thing to say. Please forgive me. I don't mean to insult any Choshu soldier."

"Where is he?"

The woman stood up straight. "That's just it. We heard the bakufu soldiers sneaking back through the village. I called to him to hide, then I ran to warn my neighbors to hide in their houses too, but when I got back, he was gone." She shrugged. "He was fussy, but a good tenant. I'll miss him."

"Which way did he go?"

The woman's brow furrowed in thought. "Well, if you didn't see him coming towards you, and the soldiers missed him, he must have gone that way." She pointed to her right where a succession of rice paddies were terraced into the hills. The water-logged plants' tender green leaves pushed up through the liquid toward the sun.

Between the terraced paddies, plum and persimmon trees held on, bordering the terraces to prevent soil erosion, but also providing excellent cover for a samurai on the run.

Nodding his thanks to the woman, Kenshin turned and jogged away in the direction she'd pointed, leaving her and the villagers to strip the bodies of valuables and bury them as they pleased.

A small man, wanting to get to the bakufu troops, slowed by a sprained ankle. He'd arrived several days ago. The time frame fit. It had to be him.

Takahata.

END CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

**A/N Since I wasn't able to find out which specific American Civil War army surplus weapons/ammunition was sold by Thomas Glover to the Choshu forces during the war, I had to guess. For all you civil war buffs out there, I chose the Parrott 10 pounder cannon since it was one of the most common ones used by the Federal Army, and gave it the Schenkl shell as ammunition. The Spencer Carbine was a very popular weapon of choice for soldiers to use, so I figured there were a lot of them floating around after the war that Glover could have bought up and sold to Sakamoto Ryoma for Choshu. If anyone has any solid leads on exactly what types of weapons and ammo Glover sold to Choshu during this time, please let me know! I can always substitute something more historically accurate later.**

Note to Reviewers:

Wyrd – To answer your question about the scarf, I figured from the OAV that Kenshin carried Tomoe's scarf with him after her death, and would have left it in the inn back at Yagi Castletown. When Shunme sent for Kenshin's things, the innkeeper would have packed it along with any other personal affects Kenshin had, and sent them to Shimonoseki. Glad you liked the chapter, and the 'curves'!

Haku baiku – Thank you so much for your review. It means a lot coming from such an accomplished writer as yourself. I was sorry to hear you had such a lousy week due to rainy day complications. I hope next week goes better! Wish I could say my 'matter-of-fact' tone and brevity were an original idea, but I'm really just trying like mad to copy the style of the OAV, and this is how it comes out. I'm loving your "Against A Sea of Troubles" story, and I hope to finish reading it tomorrow, so expect another review!

Supernaturalove – I loved your comments on your last review. Yes, Kenshin is beginning to feel strong emotions like rage, which is a far cry from the cold, efficient hitokiri he was in the OAV. Tomoe's death cracked the wall he'd built to compartmentalize his feelings – something I expect professional killers have to do to remain sane – and now those feelings are coming out. The question is, will he be able to control them? Sorry I made it tough for you to envision Kenshin and Shunme chatting over Nakamura's corpse. I guess I was flashing back to the scene in the OAV where Kenshin calmly discusses his victim as Iizuka prepares to clean up the mess Kenshin left behind.

LadyRhiyana – Yes! Takahata killed the bandit leader to shut him up, not because the bandit leader tried to attack. It was murder, and Takahata was beginning to realize what it means to be a traitor, and the depths you have to sink to if you want to keep your secret. Your last comment of your last review, "Is he going to coldbloodedly hunt down and slaughter Takahata? Can I watch?" almost made me snort my drink out of my nose! (Mental note to self: Never drink any liquids while reading reviews from now on)

XZig-zagx – Yea, I know. I felt kind of bad killing of Mr. Angt himself, but if Nakamura didn't die, then Shunme couldn't have explained that Nakamura was jealous of Kenshin, nor would he have had the chance to reveal that he was Katsura's spymaster. Please tell me you managed to finish your homework! I'd hate for my story to make you end up getting half credit on an assignment!

Sailor-Earth13 – Yes indeed, the hunt for Takahata is definitely on. Unlike most RK fanfiction authors, I'm pretending for the sake of my story that Kenshin's fame as a hitokiri in Kyoto hadn't spread all the way back to Choshu yet, so Nakamura wouldn't have a clue how good Kenshin was, apart from his weird habit of practicing his swordplay away from the inn. I think too that maybe Nakamura partly wanted to die, since he failed to kill the object of his hatred (Ryoma) and he was devastated by Tamako's death.

Alilmatchgirl – Oh believe me, Takahata is going to find out what he's in for. Wait until the next chapter.

MiptheDemonfox – Hello again! You're very observant to note Nakamura's inability to take charity. Prideful people like Nakamura would rather walk over hot coals barefoot than take pity from anyone else. Nakamura transferred that affront into rage, which forced Kenshin to kill him. Tsk. Some people simply don't know how to accept good will at face value.

BakaBokken – You like Peacemaker Kurogane? I LOVE Peacemaker Kurogane! (except the nasty bit where the lady spy gets caught – that was just repulsive). I was actually so desperate to see it that I went to a Japanese website and bought the first dvd direct from Japan without any subtitles. Of course, I couldn't find any native Japanese speakers to translate it for me so I had to wait until it came out in subtitled format, but at least then I got to watch the whole series! At least I think I did – it ends with the whole beheading part right? I have to say though, I much prefer the Okita of the RK OAV than the girlish one from PK – even though the pet pig was totally cool. I'm sending a bushel of carrots for both your Ikeyda-ya and Ohshima plot bunnies!

Lolopopoki – I know what you mean about Shunme. I couldn't bear to make him a bad guy either. I was having way too much fun writing his humorous comments.

WolfDaughter – I'm updating as quickly as I can proofread whenever I have spare time in my work schedule. I expect the last two chapters will be posted within a week, two at the most. I'm glad the plot twist about Shunme being a spy surprised you! I'm trying hard not to be predictable!

Hitokiri-sama – Glad you liked the chapter! I think Shunme was a bit surprised at what his information gathering led to when he questioned Katsura about Kenshin.

Kasifya – Yep, that's me, Miss Energizer Bunny. (Actually not. My secret to rapid posting of chapters is: Write most of the story before you post chapter one. That way you can keep yourself posting new chapters every week while leaving yourself a safety net of having extra chapters ready in case your muse packs up and leaves town for a week or two) I never get tired of compliments, so keep 'em coming! Kenshin's reaction to the bakufu's dirty tactics is something I really wanted to focus on. The pre-meiji era of Japan was so unfair and rigidly stratified that it's difficult for modern day people to imagine what it was like. Speaking of imagining, like you, I have a hard time imagining Kenshin tipsy. I avoid alcohol like the plague. Except in cooking. I've got an awesome vodka-pasta sauce recipe, and another great one for filet mignon in Madeira sauce. I love food!

Misaoshiru – I'm so happy I surprised you! I do my best to do that. Let me know how "The Sword The Mind" is! Is it fiction or history? I just bought a fantasy novel set in medieval Japan called "Across The Nightingale Floor" which a friend recommended to me. It's pretty good so far (apart from a few off-color references) but I've only just started it.

Nekotsuki – I know, Nakamura just can't win. Kenshin tried so hard to protect and save him, but some people just can't handle being beholden to others. Hope you liked this chapter too.


	26. Chapter twentysix

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal characters or plot.

**A/N: I'll be posting the last two chapters together since chapter 26 is short.**

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Kenshin ran through a gully formed between two rice paddies, the higher one on the left terraced from the hillside, and the lower one to his right. The smell of new growth filled his nostrils, the shadow of the hill to his right throwing a cool welcoming shadow over the lower half of his body as he ran, the sun bathing and warming his upper half and head.

It was like running between two worlds, a hot and cold one.

A frog leaped from the dirt path in front of him to the lower rice paddy, landing with a splash in the water.

That was when Takahata struck.

The attack came from above, where the little man had been hiding between two gnarled persimmon trees, growing at the edge of the rice paddy. He swung his blade in a downward arc as he jumped.

It would have caught most men. It was virtually the same maneuver Kenshin used on the Bakufu soldier he'd caught skulking out of the village earlier, but Kenshin wasn't most men. He pivoted on the ball of his foot, allowing Takahata to land in the space where he'd just been.

Takahata's sword sunk into the cool dirt of the path, having missed Kenshin completely. Meanwhile, Kenshin continued his pivot,and gripping the hilt of his sword with his right hand, he drew it half way out, smashing the fuchi, the flat tip of the hilt, into Takahata's side. He heard the man's rib snap as he slammed his sword back in the sheath and stepped away.

Takahata stumbled, expelling his breath in a pained gasp.

Righting himself quickly, Takahata wrenched his sword from the ground and reeled around to face Kenshin, weapon held out in front of him in defensive stance.

Kenshin watched, noting impassively that Takahata's right ankle was bandaged tightly, probably courtesy of the woman from the village. His enemy kept his weight on his left ankle, the right foot set lightly on the dirt path. The handicap would make it that much easier to kill him.

Pain, and an iron determination despite his fear, hardened Takahata's features. His face was thinner than Kenshin remembered. The woman from the village was right. Takahata looked like a half starved mongrel.

Kenshin felt his mouth pull into a half smile.

Takahata saw it, and paled. Sweat began popping out on his forehead as Kenshin began to circle almost casually around the samurai, leaving his sword in his sheath.

The circling maneuver forced Takahata to use his right foot so that he could pivot as well to keep Kenshin from moving in back of him. He winced, and Kenshin's smile widened.

This was going to be amusing. With a lightning quick draw, Kenshin pulled his katana up and out of the sheath, aiming at Takahata's head and drawing blood before he could raise his sword to block it.

When the strike was done, Takahata was bleeding from the forehead, wounded the way Nakamura had been when he'd fought off Katsura's would-be assassin at the rice merchant's warehouse in Shimonoseki.

If Takahata pretended to admire Nakamura so much, Kenshin would show him what it had been like to be Nakamura.

A warm, angry glow began at the pit of Kenshin's stomach. He tamped down on the anger, controlling it, but not dismissing it.

Takahata was blinking as the blood from his cut forehead began to drip into his eyes, yet both hands remained on his sword hilt.

Kenshin realized Takahata was afraid, too afraid to remove even his left hand to wipe the blood away.

Kenshin let his smile disappear. This coward had betrayed Katsura and destroyed Nakamura a little at a time, eating away at his sense of honor, driving him into the course of action that had ended him. Well then, Kenshin would destroy Takahata in the same way.

He danced around the small samurai, flicking his sword under, over, and behind whatever feeble blocks the man tried to put up. He played with him as a cat played with a mouse, leaving behind small shallow wounds on his neck, legs, arms, and chest.

With each new drop of blood, Kenshin's anger grew to the point where wounding the man wasn't enough.

On his next pass, he sliced lightly through Takahata's left earlobe. Takahata instinctively moved back and stepped on his right ankle.

The ankle turned, and the man fell heavily to the ground. As he fell, Kenshin moved in and struck his blade against Takahata's so hard that the sword was ripped loose from Takahata's hands and went sailing away to land six feet away on the dirt path.

Kenshin smiled again, eyes narrowed, his chest filled with an unholy joy as he watched Takahata try to squirm away, only to be stopped by the earthen wall supporting the rice paddy at his back.

Behind Takahata's head and shoulders the young rice crop swayed gently in the water, the peaceful village and brilliant blue sky rising above it incongruously beautiful in this place of death.

Kenshin raised his sword above his head and let Takahata see that his deathblow was about to come.

He stared into the eyes of his prey, pausing to savor the moment, to enjoy the terror in his eyes, Takahata's knowledge that there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it.

He wanted this, more than he'd wanted anything for a long time. Then Kenshin looked deeper into the man's eyes and realized something.

Takahata was small in more ways than one. Beyond the terror was the knowledge that he deserved to die, a kernel of self-hatred.

Kenshin remembered, sharply, vividly, Takahata's face on another occasion, that of his first kill. His words had been boastful, yet his eyes had been sick, terrified as he was now. Even though Kenshin now realized that Takahata had killed the bandit leader on purpose to prevent him from talking, it didn't change the fact that Takahata was bothered by it.

It was probably his first real taste of the bloody-minded ruthlessness required of a bakufu spy, and Takahata hadn't liked it.

Unlike Kenshin.

For the first time he would kill not because he was ordered to, or in the heat of battle, but because he wanted to.

Kenshin froze, sword poised above his head, ready to swing down in the classic men-giri cut that would cleave Takahata in two.

If he did this, if he murdered an unarmed defenseless man out of hatred and revenge, then he would lose everything that he'd begun to get back during his time with Tomoe.

Kenshin's hands tightened on the sword's hilt. He felt the wrapped design of the silk cords encircling its ray skin covered wood handle eat into his hands. His arm muscles clenched.

He battled with himself for several long moments, watching Takahata draw in what he thought was his last breath in a series of small gulps.

Kenshin stepped back and lowered his sword.

Takahata's eyes widened, not comprehending, then he braced himself as Kenshin moved, but Kenshin simply reached into his kimono sleeve for rice paper and wiped his blade twice before letting the rice paper fall to the ground and sheathing his sword.

Takahata's eyes followed the rice paper and stared at it.

"Go." Kenshin ordered.

Takahata looked at him.

"Go now. If you love the Bakufu so much, go to them, and see how they treat failure."

Takahata gaped for another second, then got to his hands and knees and pushed himself up, hobbling away down the path toward his fallen sword.

Kenshin deliberately turned his back. He remembered what Nakamura had done in a similar situation. If Takahata picked up his sword and attacked, he would meet the same fate Nakamura did. It would be just self-defense, not murder.

He waited, and heard the smaller man wheeze in pain from the numerous cuts along his body as he bent and lifted his sword. For a long moment, Takahata didn't move.

Kenshin felt like a thrummed string on a moon guitar, every sense, every instinct quivering and at the ready, and still Takahata made no move.

Takahata's voice came from behind Kenshin, low and defeated. "I don't love the bakufu. I just wanted money. I wanted to return to my family rich and respected."

He waited, and when Kenshin didn't respond he went on. "It was just for the money, that's all." He gave a noise that could have been a laugh or a sob, then his limping footsteps receded down the path.

It wasn't all, and Kenshin knew it. He'd seen in Takahata's eyes the knowledge that he would always be the lesser man, always trying to prove something, and never quite measuring up. Perhaps being allowed to live was the crueler fate for him, but it was Kenshin's salvation.

He touched his sheathed sword lightly, and made his way down the path. At the next junction he turned off it at a right angle to walk along a new path between two rice paddies, his way shaded by the leaves of flowering plum trees.

END CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Not to reviewers:

FairyMage – Thanks for all the reviews. I don't think you're morbid or demonic for liking battle scenes. Besides, anyone with a brother named Isao has to be cool. I know what you mean about research! It's easy to get so caught up in it that you forget to do any actual writing. Historical detail is great, but it's really the story that counts. By the way, I'd LOVE to sic you and your jujitsu skills on Takahata, though there's quite a bit of Takahata torture in chapter 26 as it is.

Alilmatchgirl – Swords are certainly more enthralling than guns. In Japan, katanas are works of art as well as killing tools. Kenshin's view of guns echoes the view of the samurai when the Portuguese first introduced muskets into Japan in the 1600s. The samurai initially viewed muskets as cowardly.

WolfDaughter – Thanks so much for reviewing. I hope you won't be disappointed by the ending.

Wyrd – I'm glad you liked the gun-cleaning (Thank goodness for civil war re-enactor's websites!) and Shunme's banter. I had fun with that. I'm so happy you found someone else who reads fan fiction – even if it is Harry Potter! But hey, you've been holding out on me! You've got original stories! When are you going to post them? You know ffdotnet has a sister site for original fiction, right?

BakaBokken – Thanks for the compliment on the research. Peacemaker Kurogane is great! I just wish it had gone on longer. Give your plot bunnies more carrots and hugs from me. Maybe you can let them roam free during Spring Break?

MiptheDemonFox – Oh yes, Takahata can run, but he can't hide from Kenshin. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Conspirator – I hope you still think the story is good after reading the ending. (I have a feeling I'm going to have to dodge irate fans from now on). It means a lot to me that an author (and editor – "Hi" to Co-conspirator) I respect so much likes my story. Sorry for the delay between chapters but at least this way you get two in one day!

LadyRhiyana – I hope the Takahata torture satisfied you in this chapter, though I know it probably didn't turn out quite the way you'd wished! Thanks for all your reviews!

SailorEarth13 – Thanks for the encouragement about my civil war research! You're right about Kenshin's feelings. At the end of chapter 25 he's hell-bent on revenge. I just hope my resolution wasn't too disappointing.

Xzig-zagx – Good job on the homework! I'm glad my story was a nice break from it. I hope you won't hate me too much after chapter 27 (I may have to dodge being pelted with rotten fruit, eggs, and rocks!)

Crackerjack – Thanks, I try to update at least once a week. As for your concern about Shunme, er..ah…you'll just have to read chapter 27 (excuse me while I dive for cover). As for the scarf issue, I messed up. According to the OAV Kenshin should have been wearing it all along, but the Kenshin in my story is still trying to ignore his emotional needs so he can focus on the war, so I had him pack the scarf away for now. As for the 'oro' – you've got to read Conspirator's "An Unexpected Lesson" as she does a much better job than I ever could of explaining that one!

Nekotsuki – Don't worry, the horrid betrayer Takahata has been found and got at least some of what's coming to him. I'm ecstatic that my story has hooked you at last. I just hope the ending isn't a crashing disappointment. I love your story "Tanabata Jasmine"– any chance of an update soon?

Lolopopoki – I've really enjoyed writing about Shunme. Kenshin needs some comic relief! As for the OAV, I think the reason why they made Okita seem subordinate to Saitoh was the age issue. Watsuki or whoever made the OAV decisions most likely assumed that Okita would look up to the older man, especially the ultra cool version Watsuki came up with for the series.

Haku Baiku – Thanks for your encouragement, and for putting my story on your website. Good luck with the shooting schedule for school! I hope the film turns out great!


	27. Chapter twentyseven

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X Trust and Betrayal plot or characters.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

**A/N This is the very last chapter of this story. Since I won't be able to respond to any last reviews, I'd like to thank my readers in advance for sticking with it and reading all twenty seven chapters. Your reviews have meant a lot to me and I've cherished every one – even the ones that pointed out my errors! Thank you for reading my story.**

Kenshin walked through the trees back toward the artillery encampment. In the late afternoon sun, the tree trunks and branches took on an orange cast, the still-green leaves bathed in the golden light, reminding him that fall was on its way.

Even so, Kenshin walked with a lighter step than usual. It seemed as though a great weight had been lifted from off his shoulders, one he'd been carrying for so long that he hadn't realized the burden had become a part of him.

It was like the time Master Hiko had been forced to cut his hair when he was nine years old and got his pony tail caught in the cleft of a sap ridden pine tree. Hiko could have simply pulled the hair out, freeing Kenshin, but the Hiten mitsurugi ryu master couldn't resist showing off a precision sword cut. The hair remaining on Kenshin's head hadn't contained a drop of pinesap, while his ponytail, still caught in the tree, was saturated with it.

His head seemed ten times lighter the moment Hiko sliced away the ponytail, as though only the anchor of his neck kept it from floating away. Later on he'd grown his hair long to emulate his master and to get ready for adulthood.

Kenshin found his mouth softening at the memory. Having his hair sliced off hadn't seemed funny at the time, but now…

He gave himself a mental shake. There was a war on after all, and the time for reminiscing could come later.

The weighty Parrott cannons lay silent when Kenshin returned at last to the artillery unit. The noxious white smoke had long since dissipated, and the men were desultorily standing around waiting for new orders, the ammunition shells already stacked on wagons, ready to go. Inui, the perpetually hungry gunner, gave a friendly wave to Kenshin as he walked up, then seemed to catch himself, and looked away in confusion.

The men must be tired if Inui was absent-mindedly waving to him. Even in this unit where no one knew his history, something about Kenshin set him apart. Only Shunme dared try to laugh or joke with him. He'd noticed but never really minded until now.

The officer who'd sent him after the Bakufu troops spotted him, broke off his conversation with the artillery captain, and walked over.

"Did you find them?" he asked bluntly, stopping to cast his eyes up and down Kenshin's blue kimono top and dark grey hakama to check for bloodstains. It was a rather obvious way of letting Kenshin know that if he claimed to have killed them and didn't show the evidence of it that the officer would not believe him.

"Yes." Kenshin let the blood spatter on his clothes speak for itself.

"How many?"

"Four."

The officer took a last appraising look, nodded, and walked off.

Shunme returned at nightfall, plopping down next to where Kenshin was seated by a campfire, his sword already cleaned and at his side.

"Miss me?"

Kenshin gave him a look. Shunme's clothes were dusty, as if he'd lain in the dirt, and lines of tiredness were etching themselves over the laugh lines beginning to develop at the corners of his eyes.

"Ah, you know you did. Life's no fun without me around." Shunme arranged himself cross-legged and laid his carbine across his knees. "We found our men today."

Kenshin didn't have to ask to know that Shunme and the other scouts had killed them. If Shunme were still alive, it meant that his enemies were dead.

"Hmm." Kenshin muttered.

"I hear you did too?" Shunme's eyes were bright with curiosity.

"Yes." Kenshin nodded slowly. He didn't mention Takahata. What was the point? Shunme already knew Takahata was still alive and wandering around somewhere. Having granted the man his life, Kenshin granted him another head start.

Something caught Shunme's eye and he looked away across the dancing flames of the campfire then back again. His mouth quirked. "I hear you gave Inui the fright of his life today."

Kenshin glanced inquiringly at Shunme, who laughed.

"He accidentally waved at you, and when you saw it, he got scared! He's terrified he offended you. I think he even forgot to eat dinner!" Shunme sounded so impressed by this that it took every ounce of Kenshin's concentration to keep himself from smirking in response.

o-o-o

What was left of June passed into July. The Choshu forces took over the Bakufu stronghold in Hiroshima, pushing them away from the Choshu/Hiroshima border. Shunme and Kenshin stayed with the artillery squad as rumors grew that the bakufu troops were planning an all-out counter attack in retaliation.

The attack came at the end of July. The bakufu troops pushed in from the east, spilling over the mountains like angry ants dislodged from an anthill.

At least, that's what it looked like to the artillery group. The Bakufu were intent on capturing their artillery, since it lay in a strategic position on a hilltop overlooking the road the Bakufu army wanted to use to bring its forces back to their old stronghold.

A contingent of Bakufu riflemen opened fire on the artillery squad from the north. The men abandoned their cannons and scattered for cover.

Shunme, Kenshin, and Inui, the ever-hungry gunner, threw themselves into a ditch as the Bakufu's bullets flew overhead. Kenshin gripped the hilt of his sword and kept still, his back against the dirt. All his sword fighting skill was useless in a situation like this. He glanced over at the abandoned cannons, and heard the metallic pings as stray bullets hit the long black canon barrels with their thick bands of metal collaring the loading end.

"Kenshin." Shunme's voice came from his right.

Kenshin looked over to find Shunme dipping his head back down from where he'd peeked over the edge of the ditch a moment before. The man's chest was pressed up against the dirt as he crouched next to it. Shunme looked back at Kenshin, eyes alive and calculating.

"There's ten, maybe eleven of them. They're scattered in the trees on that hill above us. If I cover you, do you think you can make it to the tree line?"

Remembering the lay of the land, how the ditch terminated in a series of rocky boulders before petering out along the trees that lined the meadow-like hilltop where the cannons had been stationed, Kenshin nodded.

Shunme gave a quick, irreverent grin. "Just don't get yourself killed before I have a chance to make you laugh."

Another furious burst of bullets came over the top of the ditch. Shunme grimaced and held up his finger, signaling Kenshin to wait a bit.

Kenshin glanced over to see how Inui was faring. He hadn't reacted to Shunme's joke.

He was dead. He lay slumped against the dirt. There were two bullet holes, one entering under his eye and the other exiting between his shoulder blades. He must have tried to peek over the top of the ditch as Shunme had, to see what was going on. And just like that, his life was over.

Kenshin gently tugged Inui's sleeve, pulling the body down further away from the top of the ditch. Why let the bakufu's guns desecrate the body even more?

There was a slight lull in the gunfire. Most of the Bakufu must be reloading. Kenshin's eyes met Shunme's in a moment of perfect agreement. He came to a low crouch and began running for the boulders at the end of the ditch.

Glancing behind him, he saw Shunme's head and shoulders appear at the top of the ditch, cocking and firing his Spencer Carbine in quick succession, a couple of spare bullets clenched between the knuckles of his left hand, to be loaded when the first seven in the magazine ran out.

Then Kenshin was dodging around the boulders and into the trees, all his attention on the task before him.

He flashed back to the forest near his master's hut. One of Hiko's training exercises had been to place marks on various tree branches at intervals in the forest. Kenshin's job had been to run through the forest and cut down the branches using only a single concentrated swing of the katana for each.

Tree branches. That's all they were.

Kenshin didn't consider that tree branches couldn't fire guns, he couldn't consider it, he had to simply act.

The first man was kneeling by a tree trunk. A lateral swing separated the man's head from his body before he knew what happened. Hearing gunfire directly ahead, Kenshin kept going, running lightly on the pine needle bestrewn dirt between the tall rough trunks that reached up and away from the carnage at their base.

There were two this time, one sensing motion and beginning to swing his gun barrel around as Kenshin was upon them.

Angling his blade, Kenshin swung under the man's rifle and up, separating rifle, arm, and a portion of shoulder from his body. Immediately, Kenshin twisted his wrists at the apex of the cut so the hassaki, the sharp edge, was now angled downward and slashed diagonally through the next man, who managed to get off a shot that went wild before the blade tore through his chest, starting at the base of his neck by his shoulder.

He found the next bakufu soldier hunkered down between two rocks, shoving a ramrod down the barrel of his musket. Kenshin paused, for the rocks cradled the man on either side. It would have to be a downward stroke.

As he launched himself in the air, the man glanced up, and grabbing his musket, twisted to face Kenshin and brought the bar shaped metal gun barrel up between himself and Kenshin's blade. Sparks flew as the two metals connected, the force of Kenshin's blow knocking the man on his back.

Thwarted in his initial plan to cut the man's chest, Kenshin improvised, rocking his blade against the gun barrel so the kissaki, the sharp tip, imbedded itself in the man's neck, severing the carotid artery.

The man gave a harsh, gurgling cry and clapped his hands to his neck in a futile attempt to staunch the flow of blood. A bullet clipped a low hanging branch and tunneled through the loose fabric of Kenshin's kimono style top.

Spotting the shooter, a bakufu soldier standing up recklessly about ten yards away, Kenshin let his blade's tip angle downward at a diagonal as he began to run forward toward the man.

The man's body jerked spasmodically, two blossom shaped splashes of red appearing on his chest as bullets raked the area. Kenshin barely had time to dive behind a fallen pine tree trunk before gunfire sliced through the air right where he'd been.

The gunfire was coming from the direction of the cannons. Evidently some of Shunme's fellow riflemen had come to the rescue of the artillery squad, nearly killing Kenshin in the process.

As he lay inhaling the scent of rotting pine needles, he stared over at the fallen body of the bakufu soldier. The man's eyes were open, staring sightlessly into nothing. His face was pockmarked with the old scars of a childhood disease, and his arm lay splayed out from his body, the barrel of his weapon across his open palm.

Would the Choshu rifleman who'd killed him ever know that it was his bullet which had ended this man's life? There was no honor in gun battles. At least with a sword, you looked into a man's eyes as you fought him, man to man and skill to skill. You took his measure, got a sense of him, as Kenshin had when he'd battled Saito, the Shinsengumi captain back in Kyoto. There was a man who'd neither ask for nor give any concession in battle.

Eventually the sound of gunfire died down as the return fire from the trees where Kenshin lay diminished then stopped entirely. The rest of the Bakufu squad was dead, not by his hand, but by flying lead.

Kenshin pushed himself upright, took out a sheet of rice paper from his sleeve, and calmly wiped his sword, resheathed it, and walked away.

o-o-o

It was late in the afternoon. Days had passed since the last battle. Once the artillery had been freed, the Choshu troops used it to block the road, and the Bakufu attack faltered and failed.

Rumors, faithfully reported by Shunme, said that the shogun was disappointed with the efforts to crush Choshu and was considering backing down.

The artillerymen were resting after having wrestled their guns down the hilltop and the road in the direction of the retreating bakufu army. They'd stopped early since the bakufu had destroyed a bridge which needed to be repaired if the artillery was to cross the mountain stream that interrupted their progress.

A few soldiers set up targets downstream and began some desultory target practice, the sound of gunfire commonplace, as small pockets of resisting bakufu troops were still being rounded up.

Shunme had lighted a small campfire for himself and Kenshin a distance away from the others. It was a flat spot on a gently sloping hill. Kenshin noticed that Shunme faced in the direction of the road, so that he could watch the progress of the bridge repair work while he put together the ingredients for miso soup.

Kenshin pressed his back against a tree trunk and listened.

"I'm telling you, Kenshin, you've got to get yourself one of these," he said, patting the Spencer Carbine lying at his side. "They're great little weapons."

"I will never fire a gun."

"Not even if I asked you nicely?" Shunme asked, setting the footed iron pot of water down among the flames. "Just for me?"

"Never. I will never shoot anyone, no matter what." Said Kenshin with finality.

"You know," Shunme began in a wheedling tone, reaching into his bundle of belongings for packets of dried kelp and bonita flakes. "Guns really can come in handy. Even Sakamoto Ryoma uses a pistol."

Kenshin's eyes narrowed. The last time he'd seen Ryoma, he'd seen the barely healed pink scars from a sword all over the man's hands. "What?"

"Oh yeah. I never finished telling you about the Teradaya Inn." Shunme opened the packed of dried fish and tipped a quantity into the water in the pot. "It was just Miyoshi with his spear and Ryoma with the pistol Takasugi gave him. A police squad burst in and Ryoma and Miyoshi fought them off single-handedly before jumping out the window and escaping. Ryoma thanked Takasugi for the gun, and said it saved his life."

Shunme frowned down at the broth, and added some more dried kelp, before stirring it with a stick.

Kenshin swallowed and looked away. Were all his assumptions wrong? He'd thought Ryoma was a great swordsman. He'd walked and held himself like a man who could use a sword.

"So if Ryoma approves of guns…" Shunme began, then pitched forward, overturning the cooking pot and broth, which fell into the fire, extinguishing it. It was then that Kenshin registered the sound of a gunshot, and the direction from which it came.

In a lightning fast move, he located the shooter, who was standing next to a tree, just lowering his rifle and beginning to step away. Kenshin couldn't leave Shunme, who could still be alive, yet the rage in his heart couldn't let the shooter escape.

As the katana left its sheath Kenshin reversed his grip, clutching the hilt with his thumbs toward the fuchi, the metal tip that capped the hilt's end, and threw the blade as hard as he could.

It struck the bakufu soldier through the throat, pinning him to the tree at his back. He dropped his gun and began to make gurgling noises. Kenshin turned his back and dropped to his knees by Shunme, pulling the older man's shoulders, off the cooking pot and back into his arms.

Shunme's head fell back against Kenshin's shoulder, giving him an unobstructed view of his chest. There was a bloody hole slightly off center on the right hand side.

Kenshin felt his heart seize up within him. The wound was making a sucking noise as Shunme inhaled, and air bubbles appeared in the blood at the edge of the wound, giving the blood a frothy appearance. He'd been hit in the lung.

"That's what I call…landing in the soup." Shunme gasped out.

Kenshin's grip tightened on Shunme's arms, and he had to consciously order his grip to loosen, to avoid hurting him any more than he already was. Shunme's chest wasn't rising and falling normally.

"Sheesh." He gasped. "You're a tough sell." Shunme's normal booming voice was more of a labored whisper, but he kept talking. "I thought…that was a good joke."

"Don't try to talk." Kenshin ordered harshly, and tried to cover the wound with his hand.

Shunme hissed, and batted his hand away. "Don't bother. We both know it's fatal." He coughed and winced at the pain. Then opened his eyes and looked up at Kenshin.

"I'm going to miss you." Shunme's lips were taking on a slightly bluish tinge.

"Don't" Kenshin whispered. He didn't want to think about losing Shunme, even though it was happening right in front of him. His only friend was dying.

Shunme raised his hand and clutched at Kenshin's sleeve. "Meant to tell you earlier." His grip found Kenshin's arm and tightened. "Don't be afraid to feel. Katsura worries about you." A smile quirked Shunme's lips. "You don't know how to seem, like me, so he worries." The smile broadened. "You should work on that."

Kenshin drew in an uneven breath and felt tears, his first since Tomoe's death, prick at his eyelids. Shunme was dying and he was worried about Kenshin?

"Where's the shooter?"

Kenshin's eyes blurred. He didn't trust himself to speak, so he nodded in the direction of the bakufu soldier.

Shunme's head shifted to look. There was a silence, then Shunme asked in a normal, deadpan, though quieter tone of voice, "Kenshin, how did your sword get over there?"

Kenshin followed Shunme's gaze and blinked to clear his eyes. "I threw it." He told the dying samurai softly.

Shunme coughed again, causing more blood to bubble up out of his wound. His body tensed up then relaxed in Kenshin's arms as the attack subsided.

"You THREW it?" he repeated incredulously, tilting his head back to look up at Kenshin again.

Kenshin bit his lip and nodded.

"Like an arrow?" Shunme asked, coughing more gently this time.

"Yes."

A big smile stole across Shunme's face. "Kenshin, you just SHOT a man with your sword."

Astonished, Kenshin stared down at Shunme, his mouth open as he remembered his last words to Shunme before the bakufu soldier had wounded him.

Shunme's smile got even bigger. "Admit it, Kenshin. You SHOT someone."

Shunme began to make raspy noises, his smile never fading. Kenshin realized he was laughing. "You…shot…someone." He wheezed, hilarity in his eyes.

Against his will, Kenshin felt his own mouth quirk. His shoulders jerked, and an unfamiliar sound began to spill from his mouth, and suddenly he was laughing too, along with Shunme.

Together, their laughter filled the clearing, until at last only Kenshin's laughter remained.

Gently, he set Shunme's body on the ground and passed his hand over the dead man's eyelids to close them.

The sun was setting in the mountains to the west, casting its dying rosy light over the clearing. Kenshin saw that the bridge wasn't finished, so the artillery squad wouldn't be able to leave until tomorrow.

They'd be leaving without Shunme.

He looked down at his friend's face, peaceful and relaxed in death, the smile seeming to linger on his lips. 'I will remember what you taught me.' He promised the slain warrior silently. ' I will learn how to seem normal. I will live. I will endure this war, and when it is over, I will force myself to laugh and to smile for your sake, and perhaps someday I will truly feel what I seem again.'

It was already happening. The emotions Kenshin kept locked away when he was a hitokiri were already coming out. How else could he have felt such rage against Takahata, or such relief when he came to the turning point and realized he still retained enough self control to step back from a selfish murder? How else could he have laughed with Shunme instead of crying? It was his last gift to the one man in all Choshu who called him friend.

Kenshin lifted his face to the dying sun, then turned and went to retrieve his sword. The war was not yet over, and he would need it in the days ahead. There would be more bloody conflicts to endure, but for the first time Kenshin allowed himself to hope that in the years to come, the years of atonement and peace, he might himself find peace, and perhaps even a sort of happiness within. That would be Shunme's true legacy. That and the gift of laughter.

THE END

**A/N Well, that's it. When I started this story, I wanted to show how Kenshin could change from the cold, unemotional killer who was devastated by Tomoe's death in the OAV 'Trust and Betrayal' to the very different Kenshin of the 'Rurouni Kenshin' TV series. I don't know if I succeeded very well in my goal, but I hope in the chapters you read that you noticed a gradual change in Kenshin. I tried to make him thaw out emotionally from his grief and guilt while retaining the sense that he was still a teenager dealing with a bewildering adult world that he'd been thrust into prematurely. While I could never hope to match the brilliance and creative genius of Nobuhiro Watsuki, I do hope that this story has remained true to his vision and to the historical period he chose for it. Most of all, I hope that it brought joy to my readers, and maybe even encouraged them to want to learn more about the Meiji era. Thank you for reading. –Omasu.**

**P.S. If you want a better and more thorough explanation of how Kenshin changed from the amber-eyed Hitokiri Battousai to the slightly goofy wanderer we all know and love, check out Conspirator's "An Unexpected Lesson" – she does a much better job of it than I ever could!**


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